Legislators should focus on being humble, not increasing their perks
Are elected lawmakers superior to ordinary citizens? They certainly seem to think so. After presenting federal and provincial budget with the ostensible proclamations of ‘austerity’ dominating the headlines, it has only taken two weeks for the same old rhetoric to return to the picture. After a tough election campaign, one would have hoped that the first piece of legislation that the new houses would undertake would have to do with providing relief to the public. The reverse appears to be true. The Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid on Thursday informed the National Assembly that the government had presented an amendment to the law for restoration of powers of the federal government to provide additional privileges to incumbent lawmakers.
Addressing the direct beneficiaries of such an amendment, it is sure to pass through. But it is a sad moment. Hamid said the government’s amendment was aimed at reviving the 2010 law for grant of privileges to lawmakers. “We are going back to the 2010 law and the government, rather than finance committees of National Assembly and Senate, would have the right to grant privileges to lawmakers,” he insisted. This means that the power to grant privileges will now be returned to a small clique within the ruling party, rather than parliamentary committees where dissenting notes are heard and must be considered. While the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators are keen on ensuring that they are the ones who decide their perks, former NA speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has been staunchly denying that she had availed perks and privileges in lieu of her position.“This house has the authority to grant privileges to any of its members. Let me clarify that no perks and privileges were given to former speakers. I, as speaker, saved millions in government funds under my austerity campaign,” she has insisted. She insisted that the only perks were a vehicle and a Grade-17 secretary if she was in the federal capital, and suggested, “Even Afghanistan gives more perks to its lawmakers.”
To being with Afghanistan is not Pakistan. And given the financial crunch facing the government, lawmakers who are supposed to be elected public servants must prioritize the public over their own interests. The current lawmakers must only remember that the Supreme Court termed the Sindh chief minister’s Qaim Ali Shah’s announcement of lifelong perks just before the elections and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s large spending as illegal. The attitudes of lawmakers can be witnessed by former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani protesting not receiving protocol at an airport, a PML-N MPA beating up a coach hostess and Sindh Miniter Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto ordering the beating up of staff for demanding toll tax. Lawmakers have long considered themselves above the law and almost members of a superior race. There is a need to bring them back to earth and remind them that their prestige is due to the public vote, and that they are answerable to people, not themselves.
