De facto increase

December 14, 2009Posted inGovernment, Legislature
The National Assembly’s decision to increase the salaries of MPs has caused widespread public outrage. Rightfully so. Not one person has registered support for the pay increase in any of the online discussion forums, including this blog where, in my last entry, I had suggested that the pay increase could be illegal. Since then, I’ve been thinking about another matter that the Government will soon have to deal with. After several ministers had argued that the salaries of MPs had to be increased, and increased to salary levels of Secretaries, one minister proposed to increase the salaries of Secretaries…

Original sin

December 14, 2009Posted inLegislature
How is it that the media – the press and television – reported that the proposal to increase the salaries of MPs originated in the National Council? The National Council session was broadcast on live TV, yet no one saw them discuss the salary increase. No one saw it, because it hadn’t been discussed in the National Council. In fact, a member of the National Council I met today claimed that the first time he heard about the pay increase was when the media reported that the National Assembly had approved it!