PERHAPS if one thinks hard about the justifications given for the recent pay increase that the government has approved for members of the National Assembly and Senate, one can see a glimmer of logic in the move — but nothing more than a glimmer. The raise is as high as 146pc of the pay they were getting until now. Most people, including civil servants, have to wait many years before their pay is doubled, let alone increased by 146pc. The government offered the justification that this pay has not been adjusted for 14 years and the lawmakers were having trouble managing household expenditures within the current salary. When asked about the wealth of these parliamentarians, the government spokeswoman said that most of them were “from the middle class” and their wealth statements were available on the ECP and FBR websites.

This last part strains credulity. If we are expected to believe that people who own multiple mansions and arrive at the National Assembly in vehicles that cost more than the houses in which most middle-class people live, own or control nothing more than the meagre wealth shown on their asset declarations then the government has clearly no confidence in the average citizen’s intelligence. In fact, the asset declarations are a joke given the visible lifestyles led by most of the members of parliament, as are whatever declarations they file regarding election expenses incurred during campaigning, and their tax returns. It is a sad fact that one can live the lifestyle of a billionaire in this country while appearing like a pauper in one’s declarations before the state. But it adds insult to injury when these same people vote for a pay raise for themselves, the likes of which most middle-class people can only dream of, and then expect citizens to believe they are using their salary to meet household expenditures. The government should have used its time to tend to more important matters that are genuinely in the public interest.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2016