The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Deputy Speaker Sangay Khandu alleged that the finance minister used the term vehicle “Quota” during the deliberation, which has caused significant controversies and dissatisfaction among the citizens and in different media outlets.
Nyishog Saephu Member of Parliament (MP) Kuenga stated, “There is already an entitlement act for members of parliament that states a member shall be entitled to a one-time vehicle import quota that is free of customs and sales tax or an option of the monetized amount at the rate approved by the parliament at the beginning of the term.”
He shared that there is no regulation specifying the amount MPs are entitled to as office joining expenses. However, the Prime Minister was allocated with Nu. 1.2 million(mn) while the rest of the cabinet ministers were allocated Nu. 0.6 mn (see story on pg 1).
Drukjeygang Tseza MP Sonam Dorji shared an example that during the travel of one of the ministers from Thimphu to Paro, back-and-forth, it would include expenses for a backup vehicle, security, traffic pilot, and other various vehicles of the dzongkhag.
“If we carefully look into the expenses incurred during such time it would be as same as the tax exemption amount that we requested.”
He said that the executives, and directors do have their duty vehicles but they were also provided with a duty-free vehicle quota after serving for certain years as per their entitlements. So, what the members have requested is, to reconsider providing entitlements as it was, which were provided in the past to purchase their duty vehicle.
Bartsham Shongphu MP Rinchen Wangdi shared that in terms of the given entitlements, there is a need to look into the huge gap between the executives and parliament members.
“Only then, people will understand the differences and the reason why we brought up this topic.”
Monggar MP Naiten Wangchuk shared that for the purchase of vehicles of the executives and judiciary, approximately 857 mn is allotted and 94 mn separately as allowances for driver and fuel.
“Only 35 mn is allocated for the MPs and 8 mn annually as allowances for the fuel and drivers. This clearly shows that it is 25 times higher than the capital cost and 11 times higher than the recurrent cost of the MPs.”
He said that there is a need for equity in terms of resources and entitlements provided because the legislative, judiciary and executives are equal and integral parts of the government.
Deputy Speaker Sangay Khandu said, “Though we are not provided with entitlements, we are not discouraged and we won’t compromise when it comes to serving the country.”
He said that for now, the members do not even have proper offices and few of the members are sharing the office together which is inconvenient. Thus, such limited resources often impact performing their duties.
He said that the members had only forwarded the motion to grant a lumpsum amount along with tax exemptions to ease the burden for the purchase. If not, the government is to provide the members with the same vehicle entitlements given to the executives and directors according to the Pay Structure Reform Act, for which the government would incur huge losses in the purchase.
“We never insisted on the vehicle quota, the term “Quota” was brought to the limelight by the finance minister which misled the viewers and contributed to controversies.”
