Government workers salaries too little- Mahoko

MP Sarah Mahoko has lamented that government workers salaries were too little and asked the parliament to move for the deduction of members of the house in order to share the spoils with civil servants.

"The salaries for government workers are very little and my suggestion is that deductions be made on the salaries of Members of Parliament. The monies so deducted should be added to the salaries of civil servants because these Members of Parliament also have privileges which they enjoy," she said. "I think in these problematic times, we need to share the burden by getting the deductions from Members of Parliament and distribute them to the civil servants. All the civil servants are receiving peanuts and I think."

Mahoko said nurses in Karoi are working very hard but the problem they face is that there are no medical supplies and equipment to use for treating patients.

"We realise that when funds are distributed in the health sector, more money is given to urban health institutions and rural health institutions are given peanuts. I think this unequal distribution is very unfair for the health workers," she said. "We need to have an equal distribution for these medical supplies. We should also be cognisant of the fact that in urban areas we have a lot of health institutions, some of which are private. Also, the people in urban areas can work to these health institutions unlike in the rural areas where people have to be transported and part with a lot of money in the process."

She said the President Robert Mugabe talked about corruption.

"He said corruption was bad and is a cancer. An Hon. Member also talked about corruption and monies which were abused, and said Ignatias Chombo did abuse certain funds. Now that he has this evidence that Chombo stole so much money to buy such properties, we therefore ask him to go to the powers that be and lead to the arrest of Chombo so that we have what is going to be seen as an example. We are a parliament of action because we are saying if we have an individual who has houses all over the country, and we have a witness to this effect, this individual is encouraged to go to the police and lead to the arrest and trial so that these funds are given back to the State," she said.

"Let me now turn to irrigation which was included in the Presidential Speech. Irrigation schemes are of a great help to all the people in the country. I get surprised by some of the Hon. Members who instead of indulging in constructive speech make remarks which are very adverse, yet they could be part of that problem."

She said when the economy of the country sunk, it was during the time of the Government of National Unity (GNU), that is when the economy of the country was destroyed beyond redemption and also the sanctions were called for by the people from the opposition, MDC.

"During that period, the members of this party were also supporting corruption because they were saying it was one of the ways of getting these sanctions but it has been seen that these are the people who were letting us down. Hence, at the re-election the electorate supported Zanu PF and not the people who let them down," she said.

"With the end of the GNU period, Zanu PF is now doing it singlehandedly and they need to look for money to support developmental projects in this country. On the other hand, MDC went and called for sanctions which are destroying the economy of the country and lives of the people of Zimbabwe. When the MDC asked for these sanctions, they thought the sanctions were going to be targeted sanctions aimed at Zanu PF people only and then the MDC would develop."

She said the sanctions hit everyone and she was glad that the electorate was able to see that the people who were on the wrong side were the MDC and the only organised party is Zanu PF.

"Hence, Zanu PF is making a clean sweep in all the elections which are being held. Turning to irrigation which was stated by His Excellency, in my constituency we have already started implementing these irrigation projects because they are a way of fighting poverty and starvation. The hunger facing the country at the moment is caused by climatic change. For your own information, most of our national granaries in this country are full with food. Hon. Speaker, if there is a constituency which has no food, it means that particular Member of Parliament is not working for the people but is selfish. The method which is used in distributing the grain is that each family is given a bag of 50kgs, this maize in not given to put into granaries but it is for eating during that month," she said.