Dodoma. The Zanzibar government has paid members of House of Representatives and ministers from the isles attending the Constituent Assembly an additional Sh120,000 in daily allowances, The Citizen has established.
This means that CA delegates who are also members of the House of Representatives each pocket Sh420,000 daily.
A House of Representatives member, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said they had been paid the additional money for 20 days.
Elaborating, he said they had been paid because they had travelled outside their workstations. House of Representatives members are entitled to a Sh200,000 daily allowance when travelling outside Zanzibar on official duty.
CA members are paid Sh300,000 daily, with Sh80,000 being night allowance and the rest special allowance covering a range of expenses Because the perdiem here is set as Sh80,000, the (Zanzibar) government decided to cover the Sh120,000 deficit so that members get Sh200,000 as usual,” the House of Representatives member said.
He said, however, that discrepancies in allowances paid to CA members did not create a good impression.
“I hope that after all the hullabaloo about allowances, the government will not give us extra pay after the 20 days,” he said, noting that it was initially decided to pay the additional money to ministers only, but it was later decided that House members should be included.
Meanwhile, Mr Richard Ndassa (Sumve-CCM), who was the first to urge the government to raise members’ allowances, said yesterday that the request was aimed at bridging the difference in pay CA members received. Elaborating, Mr Ndassa said that while CA members from the Mainland had been receiving Sh300,000, their counterparts from Zanzibar were getting Sh420,000.
“Many journalists have been writing about this without knowing what prompted me to raise the issue. It is difficult for CA members to accept little money while some of their colleagues get more,” he said, adding that he hoped President Jakaya Kikwete, would give the request due consideration and make an appropriate decision.
“It is unfortunate that some people have reported that this issue has been closed while the fact is that the matter has been forwarded to the President,” he said.
Mr Ndassa kicked up a storm last week when he said CA members were getting “peanuts”, and asked the government to substantially increase their allowances
He was supported by Mr Seleman Masoud Nchambi (Kishapu-CCM), who also asked the government to provide each member with an iPad.
Additional reporting by Habel Chidawali
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