Reject MCAs’ greedy bid to triple their pay
The biggest joke of the year must be the demand by the Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) to have their monthly pay tripled to Sh400,000. Just about three months into their tenure, these politicians have proposed through the new County Assemblies Forum (CAF) that their remuneration be so obscenely increased.
They will also get a development budget if the proposals made by the CAF are approved. Should their greedy pursuit succeed, the taxpayer will cough up an extra Sh32 billion in the five-year term.
One cannot help but wonder whether these politicians have just landed from Planet Mars. If they have been here all along, they would know there are more pressing national problems. Their push for higher pay betrays their real aim of seeking leadership.
Nearly 4.3 million Kenyans are facing starvation in the arid and semi-arid regions, while the cost of living has skyrocketed for the majority of Kenyans. Many cannot afford to put a single meal on the table for their families.
It is, therefore, a huge betrayal by the people they elected recently, who are only interested in their personal gain. They see their new positions as a means to enrich themselves. Already, the MCAs are among the most highly paid Kenyans, earning a decent Sh144,376 a month, excluding allowances.
There is something immoral about leaders or public officials determining what they should be paid from public coffers. And if their push for higher pay must be granted, then it should take effect for the lot to come after those in incumbency. Incidentally, the clamour by the 2,100 MCAs follows that of the 416 MPs, and will only worsen the bloated wage bill amid a choking public debt.
As Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chairperson Lyn Mengich rightly put it, the ward representatives knew what they would be earning a month to the last elections. Their demand for higher pay is unacceptable. We hope the SRC will stand its ground and that all right-thinking Kenyans will stridently oppose this shameless greed.
