POSHO -M, MKULO HAJUI KITU!

Finance Mustafa Mkulo has said he does not know whether sitting or any other allowances for Members of Parliament have been increased substantially as reported in the media and confirmed by National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda on Tuesday.

While Makinda told journalists that the daily sitting allowance during House sessions had risen from 70,000/- to 200,000/-, chiefly owing to hikes in house rental charges in Dodoma, the minister told this paper in a telephone interview in Dar es Salaam yesterday that he knows “completely nothing” on the matter.

Pressed for elaboration, Mkulo recommended that the appropriate place to go for details was the Speaker’s Office.

“It is better you contact the Speaker for details on what she is reported to have said. As I speak, I know completely nothing about the increase being talked about,” he said.

Winding up debate on the 2011/2012 government Budget in July, the minister said the effect of personnel allowances on the national budget was “very minimal”.

He said the 2011/2012 Budget totalled 13.5trn/- but personnel allowances accounted for only 352.74bn/-, including 25.65bn/- in sitting allowances for public servants – out of which 4.92bn/- went to MPs.

Source: IPPMEDIA.