Fatter cats

Politicians the world over that are elected to paid positions have their incomes regularly scrutinised and so it is in Pakistan. Most recently a meeting of the cabinet presided over by the Prime Minister gave scrutiny to the salaries of federal lawmakers, raised their eyebrows, and promptly increased them by in most instances over 100 per cent. Eyebrows have likewise been raised outside the rarefied halls of governance and questions posed as to the timing of this decision coming as it does amid a range of challenges and threats that beset the government on all sides.

To be scrupulously fair to the elected members their salaries had, as they are ever-quick to point out, fallen behind market values. The basic pay (unfattened by numerous allowances and credits) of MNAs and Senators was Rs44,630 which we admit is on the low side. It is now bumped up to a very healthy Rs150,000 and that of a federal minister from Rs114,892 to Rs200,000 — which seems to us to be fair remuneration when all the bells and whistles are factored in.

To be equally scrupulously fair the political classes of Pakistan rarely enter their vocation from a position of poverty, indeed many of them are among the richest in the land never mind what their annual statements of wealth (or relative poverty) to the Election Commission of Pakistan may say. One might be forgiven for wondering if the expressions of fiscal pain attached to the discharge of their public duties might be more than a little feigned.

There is of course not a shred of evidence to support the scurrilous assertions being bruited about in certain quarters that the government was seeking to curry favour with the elected worthies, and moreover doing so at what amounts to bargain basement prices when one aggregates the cost of the annual increases — considerably less than, say, building a new hospital anywhere in Balochistan. But no matter, the issue is said to have been pending for a decade and is for now resolved doubtless to the satisfaction of all concerned. Would that the same expediency could have been brought to bear on other pressing matters.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.

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