Presidents Decide Their Salaries

THE decision by President Hage Geingob to approve a 6% salary increase for politicians might also benefit him if he is paid according to what the law stipulates. 

Presidential affairs minister Frans Kapofi confirmed to The Namibian last month that the President has agreed with the Public Office-Bearers' Remuneration and Benefits Commission (POBC) to increase the salaries of politicians by 6%. The commission is responsible for proposing salary changes for politicians.

Detailed questions sent to State House spokesperson Albertus Aochamub in March were not responded to. The questions centred on whether the law is not structured in a way that allows the President to determine his own salary, even though he might not do so directly.

The current law means the President's decision to increase the salaries of his political appointees will lead him to smile all the way to the bank too.

Presidents Decide Their Salaries

Here is why: the salary of the President is influenced by the amount earned by the vice president, whose salary is determined by what is earned by the Prime Minister.

The moment the Prime Minister gets a salary hike, then those in top positions (President and vice president) get automatic adjustments to cover up the difference in percentages, as stipulated by law.

Unless the President rejects a salary increase (which we are not aware of), the head of state indirectly benefits after he approves adjustments to what political appointees earn.

Kapofi tabled the Presidential Remuneration and Other Benefits' Bill in the National Assembly last month, proposing to amend the law that will stipulate how much a President, vice president and First Lady should earn.

According to the new law, Geingob should earn 15% more than the vice president, who in turn should earn 15% more than the Prime Minister.

The Presidency said vice president Nickey Iyambo currently earns a basic salary of N$1 079 795 per year, excluding several perks.

Our calculations show that the vice president will earn anything up to N$1,38 million when he earns 15% more than the premier.

Going by the N$1,38 million amount of the vice president, the head of state should be earning anything between N$1,5 million and N$1,6 million when you add the 15% he should earn more than the vice president.

The figures above do not include last month's 6% salary increases for politicians.

In short, Geingob's salary will have to increase by an additional 6% once those below him get their 6%, unless he turns it down.

As a result, the President could now earn anything over N$1,7 million, translating into close to 23% more than what Pohamba was earning when he was the sitting President until March 2015.

The Prime Minister will end up getting around N$72 000 more, which would bring her salary close to N$1,3 million (cash and non-cash) per year after the 6% increase. Iyambo might earn close to N$1,49 million.

Presidents have over the years indirectly increased their own salaries. Kapofi strongly denied suggestions that the President is set to benefit from the increase for politicians that he agreed to.

"The President cannot determine his own salary. Your calculations are wrong. You just want to ridicule the President," he said. "The loophole of the President increasing his own salary indirectly is not new. In fact, former President Pohamba increased salaries of politicians on more than one occasion. Pohamba did not have a vice president, that means he was earning the salary being earned now by Iyambo.

Before this year's adjustment, the last time politicians received a salary increase was in 2013 after Pohamba rejected a proposed 36% salary increase for politicians.

He granted politicians a 15% increase instead.

Legally, Pohamba's salary was supposed to be adjusted by 15% since the premier, then Geingob, also received a 15% increase as part of the across-the-board salary increase for politicians.

According to the Public Office-Bearers' Commission Act, the President must decide whether to approve salary increases for politicians by considering, among others, the financial means of the state and the current principles and levels of remuneration in society in general.

President Geingob, whose salary is tax-free and who has an all-expenses-paid lifestyle, last year made about N$2,4 million during his first eight months in office from travel allowances on foreign trips.

The salary increase of the head of state comes while the country continues to battle inequality rates.

In fact, the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) provided statistics to The Namibian in 2014, saying 60% of Namibian households (283 000 out of 471 300 households) live on an income of N$1 000 a month or less.

Simply put, at that rate, a person who earns N$1 000 per month will have to work for 625 months (around 52 years) in order to match the N$1,6 million earned by the President in one year.

Taxpayers fork out over N$100 million per year on the salaries of the country's around 300 political office-bearers, which represents a N$40 million increase over three years.

The POBC has over the years claimed that politicians are underpaid when compared to their counterparts from other countries.

The same POBC has refused to provide updated statistics about how much politicians earn, despite appeals for the data since 2014.

Their counterpart in South Africa - the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers - is more transparent and include their decisions on its website for the public. It also decides the salary of the South African president.

Meanwhile, the Office of the President has also failed to respond to questions about whether the President has started giving back the 20% he promised to give back to charity, a promise he made last year during election campaigns.