Drop in perks hits MCAs’ pockets
Members of the Nyeri County Assembly follow proceedings during the presentation of the county’s budget last June.
The take-home pay for members of county assemblies (MCAs) saw a drastic cut in the six months to December 2022, as their sitting allowances reduced by more than half compared to a similar period in the previous year.
In at least six counties, MCAs pocketed less than Sh10,000 in monthly sitting allowances, an indication of the tough times they went through as they had little to do in committee sittings — the avenue through which they earn the allowance.
In Lamu County, each of the 19 MCAs earned an average of Sh1,614 per month in sitting allowance for six months, according to the latest Controller of Budget report on the county government’s budget implementation. This translates to Sh9,684 as the total amount earned by each MCA in the period.
In Kitui County, the report shows, each of the 61 MCAs earned an average of Sh2,023 in monthly sitting allowance through the period, as the county spent Sh740,350 on the component, out of an expected Sh22.8 million.
“County assemblies with the lowest average monthly sitting allowance per MCA were Lamu at Sh1,614, Kitui at Sh2,033, and Baringo at Sh5,016. The low expenditure could be due to the fewer number of sittings by the county assembly,” the Controller of Budget says.
Legally, MCAs are entitled to committee sitting allowances of Sh3,900 per sitting, capped at Sh62,400 monthly. MCAs in many counties have always breached the legal requirement to claim over Sh100,000 in allowances.
In the latest report, however, MCAs appear to have had very low activities, with the average monthly sitting allowance in the 47 counties through the six months being Sh32,328.
MCAs in Elgeyo Marakwet and Kajiado earned Sh7,435 and Sh7,766 respectively in monthly sitting allowances between July and December, while those in Busia , at Sh9,274, closed the list of six counties where ward representatives earned less than Sh10,000.
“The county assemblies spent Sh434.29 million on MCA’s Sitting allowances against an approved budget allocation of Sh2.38 billion during the reporting period. This expenditure translates to 18.2 per cent of the approved budget, a decrease from 40 per cent attained in the first half of FY 2021/22 when Sh1.08 billion was spent,” the COB stated.
At least 20 counties had their MCAs earn less than a third of the upper threshold for sitting allowance, and in 10 counties they earned less than Sh15,000.
Counties where MCAs earned the most in average monthly sitting allowance, were Kakamega (Sh101,755), Migori (Sh98,916), Makueni (Sh73,670), Mombasa (Sh66,742), and Machakos (Sh62,728).
According to Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) guidelines, county assemblies are not required to pay sitting allowances beyond Sh62,400 for MCAs who serve as members in committees, Sh83,200 for those who serve as vice-chairpersons, and Sh104,000 for chairpersons within a month.
