Holding public office comes with having ones affairs such as salaries and allowances being made public. This is for a simple reason that elected public officials are remunerated from tax payers funds and are responsible for implementing public policies.
Their role is therefore to serve the public and take decisions that are in the best interest of the majority of their electorates. These roles are not for getting super high salaries, but meant for citizens who are well accomplished and want to serve the country and contribute their vast knowledge and experience.
It is in this spirit that government issues Statutory Instruments (SI) to publicly state the emoluments of public workers. This also is meant to aid both the law enforcement agencies as well as members of the public with information that they can use were public officers are seeing to be living beyond their means.
The Zambian Business Times – ZBT below has been able to exclusively compile the salaries of top public officers from the President, Veep upto the level of constitutional office holders such as the speaker and various key legislature top officers.
According to SI no.14 of 2022 seen by ZBT, President Hakainde Hichilema is entitled to an annual salary of K553, 209 and a special annual allowance of K146, 755, which translates into an average monthly salary of K58,330. President Hichilema is also entitled to a special monthly allowance of K12, 229.58.
SI No.15 of 2022 seen by ZBT stipulates that Veep W.K Mutale Nalumango receives a basic salary of K334, 474 per annum, K84, 011 special allowance per annum and a utility allowance of K66, 145 per annum. This translates to an average monthly salary of K40,386.
The Speaker Nelly Mutti receives an annual basic salary of K319, 796, a special annual allowance of K74, 498 which gives an average monthly salary of K32,858 while the First Deputy speaker receives K253, 202 annual basic salary and K65, 408 special annual allowance, and the Second Deputy Speaker receives K246, 185 annual basic salary and K62, 589 special annual allowance.
Cabinet Ministers, the Chief Whip, and the Leader of the Opposition are at the same level of pay and receive K253, 202 annual basic salary and K65, 408 special annual allowance, this translates to a monthly salary of K26,550.
Deputy Chief Whip receives K246, 185 annual basic salary and K62, 589 special annual allowance, the Opposition Whip receives K241, 341 annual basic salary and K55, 051 special annual allowance and Private Members or simply members of parliament (MP’s) receive K236, 497 annual basic salary and K47, 515 special annual allowance.
The Vice President, Speaker, First Deputy Speaker, Second Deputy Speaker, Cabinet Minister, Chief Whip, Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Chief Whip, Opposition Whip and Private members are all entitled to an additional annual salary of K66, 145.
Constituency allowances for the Vice President, Speaker, First Deputy Speaker, Second Deputy Speaker, Cabinet Minister, Chief Whip, Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Chief Whip, Opposition Whip and Private members are K49, 608 for rural, K39, 688 for urban and K33, 072 for nominated.
Dear ZBT reader, are the above salaries in line the current economy? Why should ministers get salaries much lower than parastatals and government agency staff or heads who they supervise? With this level of emoluments, should government consider making these salaries competitive so that top public officers can concentrate on doing their jobs rather than scouting for external business opportunities? What is your take?
