TRUSTY: REGIONAL MPS SHOULD GIVE ALLOWANCE TO MPs

MBABANE – An assertion by former MP Trusty Gina on the constituency allowances received by regional MPs had tempers flaring on Wednesday.

The former Nkilongo Member of Parliament (MP) was an invited guest at a workshop organised for the MPs, dubbed ‘Facing the future, life after politics’, which was held at the Happy Valley Hotel on Wednesday. Before she could make her submissions, the former legislator urged the MPs not to take offence because she would be telling it like it was. While making her submissions, she turned her focus to the regional MPs and stated that she was sharing advice with them.

She asserted that when being elected by the MPs, the regional MPs were actually being handed a lifetime opportunity and pension as well as an investment for their children. The four regional MPs are Hhohho Region MP Nokunceda Bujela, Manzini Region MP Busisiwe Mavimbela, Lubombo Region MP Lorraine Nxumalo and Shiselweni Region MP Nokuthula Dlamini. Present at the workshop on Wednesday were Bujela and Dlamini.

Appreciation

Gina said to show appreciation to the MPs who actually elected and gave them a job, they should plan and give their constituency allowance, which they did not deserve since they had no constituencies, to the MPs to appease them. She asserted that the regional MPs were actually getting the constituency allowance courtesy of the law, not because they deserved it. I want to say this to my sisters who are regional MPs, your constituencies are the MPs who actually elected you and you should appreciate them,” she said.

Gina’s submission was met with a round of applause from some of the MPs who were seen clapping hands and appreciating her submissions. However, this did not sit well with Hhohho Regional MP Bujela, who quickly stood up to show her displeasure and also standing up immediately to get a chance to respond to the former MP was appointed MP Princess Phumelele. Bujela was heard making utterances which ordered the former legislator to take her sit.

“Lalela la, ngicela kutsi uhlale phansi – listen here, kindly take your sit,” she said. Bujela was calmed down by her colleagues and she responded positively to that as she was seen taking her seat. Princess Phumelele, who did not need the aid of a microphone to respond to the submissions made by Gina, gave clarity on the issue. She said it was not true that the regional or appointed MPs had no constituencies because the region that they were representing amounted to a constituency.

Obligated

“They are obligated to help where they have to extend a helping hand within the region that they represent, with the help of the MPs. Therefore, it is far from the truth to say that they do not have a constituency. If they do not have a constituency, then that means they are not meant to be here. They do have a constituency just as much as my constituency is the whole country,” she said.

After the submissions of Princess Phumelele, Gina continued to support her statement, stating that what she meant was that the regional MPs would not have been elected by the electorate within the region but they were elected by the MPs whom they should appreciate just as much as appointed MPs also knew that they had to pay allegiance to the authority that appointed them, because it saw it fit for them to be in Parliament. “This is nothing but the truth; I am not going to beat about the bush. The objective of this workshop is for us to open up to each other and share the truth,” she said.

Gina also highlighted that when an MP had been elected by the people in his or her constituency, the electorate cared less about how much that legislator earned, but the expectation was that they (MPs) should give them (constituency) money when they needed it and they also expected to be fed, not posing to think where that food would come from.

“You have to wake up each day and plan for it in terms of how you will provide for your family and in this case, your family are the people who gave you the job and voted for you to go to Parliament. Even if you do not have the money, you have the obligation to attend to people coming into your yard and politely tell them your financial situation, and offer something if you have,” she said. Seeing that the tensions were high in the room, the Parliament officials then requested reporters to temporarily remain outside while the session continued. Prior to the submission, Gina shared words of comfort to the legislators for being in office at a time when the world was attacked by the COVID-19 pandemic that put to a halt a number of projects and brought the world to a standstill.

Duration

She said this could put them in the line of fire with their constituents, who would think that they did nothing during their term as MPs. Stakeholders, such as Liberty Insurance, were present to sell their products to the legislators, while the Eswatini Business Health and Wellness (EBH) took the MPs through mental and psychological steps of coping with life after Parliament. Among other things, the latter urged the MPs to redefine themselves, not to shy away from their communities and also to re-arrange their monthly expenditure and lifestyle to suit their pocket.

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