The Public Office-Bearers (Remuneration and Benefits) Commission Bill was approved a week after it was tabled by Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab in the National Assembly.

Gurirab told the House that it was imperative to establish the commission as soon as possible.

Initial steps for the Bill were taken by the Speaker of National Assembly, Mosé Tjitendero, and former Prime Minister Hage Geingob.

The decision to establish the commission follows a resolution in the National Assembly in 2002 that Cabinet should establish a commission to review the conditions of service of political office-bearers.

These include members of the National Assembly, National Council and Regional Councils.

The commission's main tasks will be to make recommendations concerning salaries, allowances and benefits of political office-bearers, including their pension and medical aid benefits.

The commission will consist of seven people nominated by the President and appointed by the National Assembly.

They will serve in a part-time capacity for a renewable term of five years.

The President will designate the chairperson and the deputy chairperson, as well as determine their remuneration and other benefits.

No political office-bearer will be eligible for selection to the committee, nor a person who is an un-rehabilitated insolvent or has been sentenced to a prison term.

The commission will be permitted to conduct research or obtain any information to assist in making recommendations.

At present, ordinary members of the National Assembly earn about N$290 000 a year (including benefits), while Ministers earn yearly salaries and benefits in the region of N$600 000.

MPs are due for a five per cent salary increase in the 2005-6 financial year following a 2002 review of salaries which determined that they would receive an 18 per cent increase over three years.

They received a hike of eight per cent in 2003-04 and five per cent in 2004-05.

Wage and Salary Commission (Wascom) recommendations in 1996, which guide the salaries of civil servants, proposed a yearly 10 per cent general salary increase or an inflation-related increase.

Gurirab said that MPs declined the increase in 1996 because of the poor economic situation of the country.

However, some quarters have disputed this: they claim that ministers received increases while ordinary MPs did not.

Ordinary MPs receive housing and car allowances, as well as medical aid and pension benefits, in addition to their basic salaries, while Deputy Ministers and Ministers have much higher perks in the form of housing, state and private cars, household and entertainment allowances as well as pension and medical aid benefits.

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