Lifetime Pensions and Perks

Editorial

In the wake of the Covid-19 restrictions which all countries had to face, many in the most democratic of abodes, discovered the perks, privileges and entitlements of their ruling class, including MPs, Ministers, Presidents and Vice-Presidents. A quick survey reveals that in India, for instance, the Constitution empowers MPs to determine their own salaries by enacting laws, which raises acutely the question of conflict of interest. Other democracies have also grappled with this issue.  Some appoint an independent authority (e.g., Australia and the UK), some peg it to the salary scale of senior civil servants (e.g., France), and some index salaries to inflation (e.g., Canada). The United States decides the salaries of legislators through a law, but its Constitution specifies that the revision will be effective after the next election to the House of Representatives.

There is consensus that MPs and Ministers, many of whom spend a lot of time and energy in their constituency and higher functions, should receive a decent and attractive package during their terms of office although there is no perfect solution, and the best of intentions can be thwarted. For instance, it has been reported that some African Presidents have a paltry salary of say Rs 100,000 monthly with perks and allowances, increased from time to time, reaching several million monthly. Ministers in particular can be very creative with a variety of allowances, per-diems and regular round the world travel trips, first or business class, bargained or extracted from their political bosses and, unless hemmed in firmly, can be abusive of public funds.

We need no reminder of the posse of Ministerial travellers, accompanied by docile top-rung civil service cadres, flocking to Dubai Expo at our expense to the tune of some Rs 77m. We also recall the indecent furore of Ministers and MPs demanding five-star wining and dining in the National Assembly canteen towards which their contribution was a miserly couple of hundred rupees. In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew’s early idea of pegging ministerial salaries to a basket of salaries for private sector bosses with similar responsibilities backfired a few years ago. With the island-nation’s rapid development and the establishment of global conglomerates’ headquarters, this mechanism shockingly sent ministerial salaries soaring to new heights.

While these matters are typically under the control of political leaders in normal circumstances, both the Covid-19 pandemic and recent events surrounding the Speakership tele-novela have highlighted the need to curb the excesses of our Cabinet Ministers and indeed of some higher and more “decorative” posts that our legislators have deemed appropriate when times and economic circumstances were different. It should be noted that public outrage has not centred solely on salaries themselves, but rather on the extensive benefits and perks provided over a lifetime to individuals who may not have significantly contributed to merit such lifelong handouts.

For instance, in the case of Adrien Duval’s short tenure, even for a couple of months, as Speaker of the National Assembly, there is a perception that this appointment, despite its brevity, serves as a lucrative enticement, a sweetener, for the PMSD to align with the embattled and increasingly isolated MSM bandwagon. Social media, even in PMSD circles were bristling to the fact that Adrien Duval, having been nominated Deputy Speaker in 2015, may by virtue of this short-term appointment, qualify at age 35 for a lifetime pension from public purse of some Rs 250,000+ monthly, in addition to the usual gaggle of perks and benefits.

It is not targeting the person that matters, nor are we pushing for a populist agenda, and we recognise that “hua to hua” (what’s done is done) but it seems clear that it is high time for Mauritius Inc to undertake a dispassionate but comprehensive independent review of the sumptuous lifetime perks, privileges and pensions that our ruling classes have allocated themselves. From the honorary functions of President, through the relatively useless post of Vice-President, to the Speakership and to Cabinet Ministers, lifetime perks, privileges and allowances have to be trimmed down.

It is imperative that both the current and future generations embrace the principle of service before self, echoing John F. Kennedy’s famous words: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 26 July 2024