The world’s ‘poorest’ president

By: The Nation Monitoring | November 16, 2012 .

IT’S a common grumble that politicians’ lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay. Meet the president - who lives on a ramshackle farm and gives away most of his pay, reported BBC on Thursday. Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside. This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders. President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo. The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers. This austere lifestyle - and the fact that Mujica donates about 90 per cent of his monthly salary, equivalent to $12,000, to charity - has led him to be labeled the poorest president in the world. “I’ve lived like this most of my life,” he says, sitting on an old chair in his garden, using a cushion favored by Manuela the dog. “I can live well with what I have.”His charitable donations - which benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs - mean his salary is roughly in line with the average Uruguayan income of $775 a month. In 2010, his annual personal wealth declaration - mandatory for officials in Uruguay - was $1,800, the value of his 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. This year, he added half of his wife’s assets - land, tractors and a house - reaching $215,000.That’s still only about two-thirds of Vice-President Danilo Astori’s declared wealth, and a third of the figure declared by Mujica’s predecessor as president, Tabare Vasquez. Elected in 2009, Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution. He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy. Those years in jail, Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.“I’m called ‘the poorest president’, but I don’t feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more,” he says. “This is a matter of freedom. If you don’t have many possessions then you don’t need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself,” he says. “I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice.”The Uruguayan leader made a similar point when he addressed the Rio+20 summit in June this year: “We’ve been talking all afternoon about sustainable development. To get the masses out of poverty.“But what are we thinking? Do we want the model of development and consumption of the rich countries? I ask you now: what would happen to this planet if Indians would have the same proportion of cars per household than Germans? How much oxygen would we have left?“Does this planet have enough resources so seven or eight billion can have the same level of consumption and waste that today is seen in rich societies? It is this level of hyper-consumption that is harming our planet.”Mujica accuses most world leaders of having a “blind obsession to achieve growth with consumption, as if the contrary would mean the end of the world”. But however large the gulf between the vegetarian Mujica and these other leaders, he is no more immune than they are to the ups and downs of political life. “Many sympathize with President Mujica because of how he lives. But this does not stop him for being criticized for how the government is doing,” says Ignacio Zuasnabar, a Uruguayan pollster. The Uruguayan opposition says the country’s recent economic prosperity has not resulted in better public services in health and education, and for the first time since Mujica’s election in 2009 his popularity has fallen below 50 per cent. This year he has also been under fire because of two controversial moves. Uruguay’s Congress recently passed a bill which legalized abortions for pregnancies up to 12 weeks. Unlike his predecessor, Mujica did not veto it. He is also supporting a debate on the legalization of the consumption of cannabis, in a bill that would also give the state the monopoly over its trade. “Consumption of cannabis is not the most worrying thing, drug-dealing is the real problem,” he says. However, he doesn’t have to worry too much about his popularity rating - Uruguayan law means he is not allowed to seek re-election in 2014. Also, at 77, he is likely to retire from politics altogether before long. When he does, he will be eligible for a state pension - and unlike some other former presidents, he may not find the drop in income too hard to get used to.

 Pakistan president vs Uruguay President

Honest to God, I read twice the article flashed in Nation on 26^th November, 2012 under the caption, ‘The world’s ‘poorest’ president’ which describes none but Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay and the more I read about him more I was tilting towards him both from inside and outside and I am sure bulk majority of the readers of Nation will do alike. The article is based on what BBC has flashed on Thursday 22^nd November, 2012 which means it is very much latest and updated in any case.

Before I jump up to the presidents of Uruguay and Pakistan it will be very much pertinent to see as to what is international footing of the countries and once that comparison is done it will be much easier for even a commoner to fully understand as to what I am hinting to. Thanks to Google and other such like search engines which have made our lives much easier and by just one click we can get whatever we want and from whatever angle we want. Ever since I was going to compare our beloved President Asif Ali Zardari with honorable President Jose Mujica I had no choice but to refer to Google to see as to what could be the international ranking for Pakistan and Uruguay which as such will facilitate me to be more forceful and logical in deducing as to who is who. There are three authenticated and well reckoned sources in connection with assessing the monetary strength of a country hence I had am going to refer all the three which are WB (World Bank), IMF (International Monetary Fund) and CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). WB figures are based on for the period 2005-11 whereas in case of IMF it is just the year 2010 while CIA covers 1993-2011 and quite naturally their numerical ranking at the international scale differ while even their figures do not tally but nevertheless it can be very conspicuously noticed that there is not much difference between them in any case and hence we can that the ranking and the figures are construed to be factual and nearing to hard realities.

When I looked at the annual per capita income of all the countries of the world my head bowed down in shame which you too simply cannot avoid despite your all best efforts and tactics.  I am not ashamed because I committed some criminal offence or even accused of any moral turpitude as someone may construe alike but because my Pakistan was found to be much poorer than Uruguay and I being a green passport holder had no option but to curse myself to belong to such a poor country where the some people are facing hardships to eat even two meals per day what to talk of three but the person who was nicked as Mr. 10% has been made as President of Pakistan. WB, IMF and CIA shows annual per capita income in US $ for Uruguay reading as 15,181; 15,112 and 15,300 respectively which on average (15,181 +15,112 + 15,300 divided by 3) comes to 15,198 and as regards Pakistan the figures of WB, IMF and CIA show 2,763; 2,786 and 2,800 respectively and when we work out the average (2,763 + 2,786 + 2,800 divided by 3) our score is 2,783 which means that Uruguay is much more richer than us. Let the figures themselves speak aloud as to where do we stand. Numerically Uruguay (15,198 divided by 2,783) is found to be almost 5.5 times richer than us. Now based on the per capita income we find that WB, IMF and CIA rank Uruguay at rung 60, 61 and 64 respectively whereas the same three sources put our beloved Pakistan much below meaning by that Pakistan is ranked at serial 134, 138 and 144 respectively and therefore if we work out the average for Uruguay (60+61+64 divided by 3) we find get the figure of 62 whereas in case of Pakistan (134+138+144 divided by 3) net result is 139 so  who topples the other is very much obvious and does not need any further explanation and or elucidation.

Now once it is established beyond any shadow of doubt that Pakistan is far below than Uruguay so far as per capita income is concerned of both the countries so it is quite but natural that the Presidents of both countries must be living according to the monetary scale of their country concerned. However, if I put it bluntly and blatantly, there is no affinity whatsoever between the two presidents from any angle and perspective howsoever wider they could be. President Zardari and President Mujica are as apart as earth and sky and this is not any hearsay, fiction or even imagination but hard fact though very much bitter to swallow but then one must remember that sometimes one has no choice but to take quinine which is too bitter even in thought leaving apart the reality. I being myself a Pakistani would quite naturally favor my president under all circumstance and everywhere and highlight only which is positive and hide what is negative but do not forget the hard fact that at the same I have my own conscious as well which obliges me to shun all favors and prejudices and instead be always straight and truthful in my words and actions.

The article further describes that Jose and his wife still grow flowers and sell like before becoming head if the state. There are only 2 police men and a dog at the house of the president so far as the security of the VIP is concerned. Still the more mind boggling is to read that he gets monthly salary of 12,000 US $ which is too meager in any case but just see his greatness that he donates 90% of his salary towards charities resulting in that he is left with only 120 US $ per month. Unbelievably the President Mujica in 2010 when he was elected as President had declared his total assets valuing just 1,800 US $ while his car is 1987 model Volswagen Beetle. It will be futile to compare Zardari with Mujica because there is no relevance between the two in any case so how to compare and contrast the two. But just for my satisfaction and for information of others let me touch about the place they both live in as presidents. Relying upon the per capita income, Uruguay President must live in spacious bungalow if not in a palace and likewise Pakistan President ought to be residing in a hut or maximum one room only but alas there is no comparison between the two to be honest to God. Our President House in Islamabad wherein Asif Ali Zardari lives is such a palatial building that not many presidents of different countries can boast of what to talk of Jose Mujica, Uruguay President who lives in farmhouse owned by his wife approachable through a dirt road somewhere far off from the capital Montivideo. It is the free will if the President of Uruguay not to cut off from his roots though officially he is entitled to live with same pomp and show like other heads if state do but it is his humbleness to remain the same what he had been throughout his whole life which he neither forgot or wants to forget even now when he is not what he had been all along.

Last but not the least one should not forget even for a fraction of a second that from international official protocol point of view both being heads of states are to be treated alike. As and when UN meets where all the head of the states including Super Powers come they are seated as per alphabetical order of the country they belong to so at that point of time Zardari will not be any preference over Maujica because of the most expensive suit he wears or for that matter how big fortune he owns rather they will be treated at par. National anthems will be played, guard of honor will be inspected while national flags of their countries will flutter as and when either Zardrai as President of Pakistan and Mujica as President of Uruguay visit any foreign country so where and how Mujica is downgraded or for that matter Zardari is upgraded.

Now at the end let us do an experiment so that you yourself get an automatic and instant answer at your own completely devoid of any haggling, influence and corruption. You as a Pakistani put hand on your heart and I can on my honor that you will instantly hear yourself that Pakistanis will not vote for Zardari for next term while in case of Uruguay the nation will not only select Mujicia as president for life but also will worship him. There are those who are remembered and praised even before and after assuming the office of President of a country while on the other hand there are those presidents as well who are not only removed, ridiculed but even shot at and I need not personify and clarify it any further because you are truly super intelligent and very well know as to who deserves garland and who deserves shoes and where?