Traditional leaders have hailed government for proposing to increase their honoraria by 100 percent in the 2023/24 fiscal year, but have given mixed views on restricting duty-free vehicle import privileges to paramount chiefs.

From expenditure of K3.2 billion honoraria per year, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe announced yesterday that the budget will grow by K3.16 billion to K6.36 billion.

He also announced that paramount chiefs, who already have diplomatic passports, will now have a chance to buy one vehicle every five years, just as other senior public officials do.

In an interview yesterday, Senior Chief Lukwa of Kasungu, while appreciating the increment, said government needed to extend the duty-free privilege to senior chiefs as well.

Lukwa: It should extend to senior chiefs, T/As

He said with the increase, each village head will now be receiving K10 000, group village heads will move to K20 000, senior chiefs to K120 000 and paramount chiefs to K200 000.

On his part, Paramount Chief Lundu said though prices of goods and commodities have gone up and the honorarium may not be much, it will help cushion them in their day to day lives.

He said: “We are happy that this [duty waiver] has started, and we hope that after some years, it will extend to others. It can’t start with all chiefs.”

Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi president Moffat Ngalande also hailed government for the increase, saying, the local currency is not as strong, especially with the recent devaluation.

Currently, the government spends K3.2 billion annually on chiefs’ honoraria translating to  K266 million monthly. There are 42 540 chiefs on the payroll, including paramount chiefs, senior chiefs and T/As, sub-T/As, group village heads and village heads.

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