MPs TURN PARLIAMENT INTO A MONEY MACHINE WHILE PEOPLE SUFFER

Zimbabwe today is full of pain, hunger and struggle, yet the people we elect to speak for us in parliament continue to live large as if they were chosen to enjoy life and not to serve the nation. Since 2018, our Members of Parliament have become masters at taking money from the national treasury while pretending to care about the people. They talk about representing us, but their actions show that they only represent their own comfort. They live in islands of luxury while the rest of the country suffers every single day.

MPs are supposed to pass laws, watch the actions of government, and make sure the voices of the people are heard. They are supposed to protect us and make sure our leaders do the right thing. But what we see in Zimbabwe now is something different. MPs have stopped being watchdogs. They have become hunters of money. They no longer fight for the people. They fight for benefits, cars, loans and trips. Instead of speaking for the poor, they chase the things that make their own lives soft and easy.

Almost every year they come up with new demands. They want bigger salaries in US dollars. They want more allowances. They want better houses. They want better cars. It is as if parliament has become a place where people go to enjoy life, not to work for the voters who put them there. In December 2022, they gave themselves huge loans. Each MP took US$40 000 for housing and US$60 000 for a car. Many people in this country will never see even a small part of that money in their entire lives. But MPs said the money was not enough. Now they want housing loans of up to US$150 000 each. They claim they deserve these things because ministers also get benefits. They forget that ordinary people are the ones paying the price.

Last year they even demanded duty-free cars worth US$40 000 each, more land and a bigger constituency fund of US$100 000. They say the money is for development, but everyone knows how these funds are used. Many MPs disappear after elections and only return five years later when they need votes again. While they sleep comfortably in their homes, people in rural areas are walking long distances to clinics with no medicine. Teachers are underpaid. Nurses survive on nothing. Roads are broken. Schools are dying. But MPs keep adding to their wish list.

Some MPs even want their spouses to travel with them on parliamentary trips, as if these trips are family holidays. They want a salary of US$2 000 every month, not counting allowances. They want Toyota Land Cruisers, as if Zimbabwe is a rich oil country. Now government has started giving them land too. Every day they ask for more while the people get nothing but suffering.

It is true that MPs must be paid fairly. But payment must come with honesty, hard work and real service. It must come with accountability. What we have now is a group of people who see politics as a business where you make money fast. They do not see it as a way to help the nation grow.

A Nigerian leader, Peter Obi, once said that no country can grow when politics pays more than industry. That is exactly what is happening here. Politicians in Zimbabwe are richer than business people. They create poverty so they can remain powerful. They live well while the people they claim to represent drink dirty water, struggle to find food and suffer without any hope.

Our MPs have turned parliament into a money machine. They pretend to serve us while taking everything for themselves. Until we remove this greed, our country will never move forward because those in power are too busy helping themselves instead of helping the people.