Now ministers' salaries

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Members of the federal cabinet have followed the lead of the National Assembly and given themselves massive pay hikes, even though the vast majority of ministers are already billionaires. Cabinet members in Pakistan who also hold elected office are essentially entitled to two separate salaries - one for their parliamentary role and one for their cabinet role. This means that the salaries of MNAs serving as ministers have now crossed Rs1 million, and perks and privileges push the total compensation closer to twice that amount.

And yes, the decision comes just days after the Federal Finance Minister said federal employees will not be getting any raises because the government can't afford it. We previously noted how bad the optics are of wealthy politicians doubling their own salaries while refusing to give low-wage bureaucrats even an inflation adjustment. Unfortunately, optics are only of concern to people worried about looking bad.

While the government pats itself on the back for bringing down inflation, the fact is that 'down' is a relative term - after years of sky-high inflation, there was nowhere left to go but down. People's incomes have still not overcome the impact of the carnage of the past years, and it is irresponsible for elected officials to treat themselves as public masters rather than public servants. It is also worth remembering that if the cabinet had not given themselves raises, most of them would still be making more money since they would be getting the increments MNAs rewarded themselves with.

And while some parliamentarians will claim that they are relatively low-paid compared to the elected officials in other countries, how about comparing it with commoners in the country? The average MNA now makes about seven times what an average salaried individual does, while in most countries, this is closer to a more reasonable 200% of average incomes. If politicians really want to be fairly paid, they should freeze their wages till the time they 'merit' raises, namely when economic development significantly increases average wages.