Allowances
on Rob Wootton (Zambia), 27/Apr/2011 13:31, 34 days ago
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Despite now being in Zambia over a year I can still find the allowance culture frustrating and annoying. In brief, rather than people making claims (at cost) for Government / Development related work allowances are given out which may cover things like transport, food and drink, accommodation, sitting or meeting attendance and so on. In principle this makes sense and is fairly easy to administer, but does lead to significant abuses. For example, there are occasions where senior officials will attend meetings when the allowance is deemed large enough (for their presence) but send juniors along when the amount is not enough, or only attend if there is a sitting allowance on offer. Similarly, people will go chasing allowances by seeking to be part of certain committees or as happened last year wanting to be part of the Census teams because of the sizable allowances available. I have been told that the forthcoming Presidential elections will be even worse. For many people allowances are being used to supplement their income which is either pretty meagre, or inconsistent in supply. However, more often than not it is the people who are already at the top of the food chain who then tuck into the large allowances.None of this is unusual or unique to Zambia, and I know other volunteers could point to much worse, but hey one example just got a bit too much for me today sitting in my hot, sweaty Mazabuka office. An international organisation was using a couple of Zambian Government staff to collect some general information from Government bodies. I was politely asked to go a nearby office to answer a few questions on HIV and AIDS. Afterwards and for my 30 second walk I was offered a transport allowance of ZMK50,000; approx£6.50 but a pretty decent amount here. Initially, I refused but was then informed by the visitors that returning with the money would be very awkward for them. So I relented, accepted the money, and will give it to Stella and family. Rant over for now.
