House of rising funds

The “Mother of all parliaments” is having the mother of all scandals; a scandal that threatens to engulf all the politicians and end public trust in MP’s for good. Her Majesty’s parliament sits on the banks of the Thames in a wonderful golden palace that shimmers in the sunshine. The UK has one of the oldest parliaments in the world, only the Isle of Man has a longer history but when it comes to honour and tradition, no democratic institution comes close to the House of Commons. I dream of the day when African politician comport themselves like they do in the House of Commons, sadly that day has come because now the UK MP’s are behaving like the worst African politicians. Imagine a parliament where MP’s are abusing the system and claiming expenses fraudulently for houses that don’t exist, for mortgages which have been already paid, for their castles to be repaired (yes some of them have castles) and items such as pornography are paid for by taxpayers. If this was done in an a banana republic, it would be bad enough but the fact that it has happened in a country that prides itself on propriety and sobriety makes it worse. Political capital is something strange; once you lose it, it is gone forever. Trust is the most important commodity in the world of politics; most politicians take it for granted but without it, a politician is useless. Now there are jokes galore about MP’s being conmen – “At least Ali Baba only had to deal with 40 thieves, we have 645” behind the joke is a sad premise, that politicians are venal and corrupt. All this happened because of the current economic crisis, before when times were good, people didn’t mind politicians eating and filling their bank accounts, but in a time of economic hardship when people are being laid off and cannot meet the cost of living it is hard to stomach. Appearance is very important in politics, how things appear is more important than how they actually are; that is why in Rwanda we drastically reduced the perks and benefits paid to government officials because it looks bad to the electorate. There should never be a gulf between the population and the politicians; one problem Africa faces is the bubble that the elite can surround themselves with. There is a road in Kigali with more ministers living on it than any other road; for ages this road in Kimihurura just got worse and worse. It wasn’t until I drove along that road in a 4x4 that I realised why none of the ministers minded the gigantic potholes; the smooth suspension made it feel like driving on soft pillows instead of potholes. Rwanda is actually more accountable than most of its regional neighbours, we get to ask hard questions of our politicians and those seen to be non-performing or cannot communicate their ideas properly are sacked, long may this continue. It is sad to see the state of the UK MP’s issuing grovelling apologies without admitting any wrong-doing “I deeply apologise, even though I did nothing wrong, I was badly advised, it is the system, I will repay the money even though I am entitled to it, it was an error of judgement, I did it in good faith and so on.” No African politician can ever get away with such weak excuses but the European MP’s are made of purer moral fibre? 94 MP’s are accused of impropriety out of 645, that is roughly 1 in 6, in India 20% of the MP’s have criminal proceedings or convictions against them; this makes our “CND” look like Saints. In UK people are wondering just how they can restore faith in MP’s, the public are furious, if this was 100 years ago, they would have been lynching them. This is a great time for cynics and satirists alike, my favourite joke at the moment is “Only one man ever entered parliament with honest intentions and that was Guy Fawkes” referring to the Catholic rebel who tried to blow up the House of Commons with gunpowder in the 1700’s. One MP suggested that a respected independent body be created to look into the matters and investigate MP’s expenses, it already exists, and it is called the Fraud Squad. ramaisibo@hotmail.com