Opinion By Jackson Muzivi|Political commentator Jackson Muzivi has called on government to consider engaging privates financiers to finance parliamentarians acquire their official vehicles than engage funds from government.
The move would help get tax payers money directed into other priority areas and remove the burden of the vehicle loans from the citizens.
In a Facebook posting, Muzivi writes as follows:
The loan scheme for MP’s to purchase motor vehicles has become a hotly contested national issue.
As this is by no means a new development, the interest it has generated appears to me to be more generational premised than anything else.
There appears to be a vague generational consensus that MPs are entitled to the loans but at the lower end of national priorities.
The contest seems to be hinged on morality considerations rather than on principle.
Those that are against it seem to be infuriated that the scheme is ill conceived as it is an ill timed drain on scarce State financial resources that could be deployed elsewhere and achieve better social equity.
Alternatively that the scheme’s financing could be better financed through private sector funding than through taxpayer funding.
Those for the scheme appear convinced that Legislators are deserving of taxpayer funded loans as they need the personal cars to effectively carryout their representation role.
The facts of the matter is that in a country facing a myriad of financial challenges, perks extended to public servants must take cognizance of the priority with which they must be delivered ahead of competing national needs and interests.
The principle of helping MP’s with loans to purchase vehicles to improve their efficiency and effectiveness is not easy to fault.
The priority level ranks very high as MPs are burdened with the responsibility to represent constituents at national level and must thus consult widely to articulate majority interest and priorities when crafting laws.
A generation that demands better quality of life must know that quality services are expensive and thus be prepared to meet the expenses not their representatives.
On that basis I prefer that MP car loans must be funded by the taxpayers who derive benefit from the way their chosen representative articulates their needs in Parliament.
All other issues are peripheral to that and should not be used to deny MP’s a critical resource for their performance.
The moralistic view has no place because it can only subsist if supported by enabling laws.
Private funding is equally not the best as it will burden the representative with interest costs that ordinarily should be borne by the beneficiaries of their effort and expertise.