THE Shoura (consultative) Councils in Saudi Arabia and the other GCC countries have so far failed to convince the citizens that they are capable of representing them, expressing their concerns or resolving their problems. Early this month, my friend and colleague Talal Al-Shaikh, Editor-in-Chief Al-Watan newspaper, asked me to write an article. So I decided to contribute with an article comparing the monthly salaries of the parliament members in the world which was published in the Economist in mid-July. The British magazine considered the salary of the Saudi Shoura Council member to be humble compared to parliament members in Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia and South Africa. The magazine said the annual salary of a Saudi Shoura Council member is $64,000 (SR240,000) while a parliament member in Nigeria (which is being eaten up by corruption) is getting a salary which is higher than both the salaries of the American president and the British prime minister put together. He is bagging an annual salary of $189,500 which is 116 times higher than the average salary in the country. The Economist said the parliament member in Kenya is being paid an annual salary of $74,500 while the salary of the parliament member in South Africa is $104,000, which is 14 times the average salary in the country.
In Brazil, the PM gets $157,600 which represents 13 percent of the GDP. Even in Indonesia the PM is getting an annual salary of $65,800, which is more that his Saudi counterpart. According to the Economist, a member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset) is getting $114,800 while in Italy the annual salary is $182,000, $174,000 in America, $201,000 in Australia, $154,000 in Canada, $119,000 in Germany and $105,000 in Britain. The figures, which the magazine obtained from the studies of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, indicate that the annual salary of the Saudi Shoura Council member is SR240,000. The Economist has, however, made a big mistake in its calculations. It did not take into account the other fringe benefits the Shoura Council member gets. Yes, the monthly salary is SR26,000 which is equivalent to $6,933. The annual payment is SR300,000 which is $80,000. This is in addition to a housing allowance of SR100,000 ($26,666) and a down payment of SR300,000 on appointment ($80,000). This means that the annual income of a parliament member in Saudi Arabia is more than $130,00, not $64,000 as the magazine had claimed earlier. The members of the council who are living outside Riyadh are entitled to first class tickets on Saudia. All the members will have free medical treatment inside the country or abroad and they all have an annual vacation of 60 days.
