MPs in plot to pocket Sh2bn send-off perks

The Parliamentary Service Commission has budgeted to spend Sh2.4 billion on the severance pay for lawmakers.

In documents tabled by the Budget and Appropriations Committee, senators will be paid Sh410 million while their National Assembly counterparts are to get a total of Sh1.9 billion.

In the last year of their five-year term, ordinary MPs’ salaries were set at Sh710,000, the Speakers of both Houses at Sh1.3 million and Deputy Speakers Sh1.056 million per month.

Each category of lawmaker would be paid their eight months salary at a go.

The plan to have the lawmakers compensated for the eight months by which their term will be cut short could, however, collapse after the Salaries and Remunerations Commission signalled it would block the proposal.

AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION

In a hard-hitting statement last Thursday, SRC chairperson Sarah Serem said any such pay-out would go against the Constitution. She also opposed plans by county assemblies to give governors retirement packages.

“Any attempt by public office holders to pay themselves more under the guise of send-off packages will violate the provisions of Chapter Six of the Constitution. We need to tread carefully. Such schemes, besides being against the law, often set the tone for similar demands by other public officers, leading to an additional cost to the Consolidated Fund, a situation that can lead to civil unrest and economic meltdown,” said Ms Serem.

Already, a case is in court against the pay-off, while some MPs, among them Nyamira Senator Kennedy Okong’o, have criticised the idea. Some of the MPs, who are against the proposal, have had to quieten their protests after being criticised by their colleagues in the corridors of Parliament.

ONE-OFF PAYMENTS

The PSC presented its proposal to the Budget Committee chaired by Mbeere South MP Mutava Musyimi at a closed-door meeting on February 7.

Minutes of that meeting show that the proposal by the PSC is to have the budget ceiling for Parliament increased from Sh36 billion to Sh45.7 billion.

The Sh9.7 billion would cater for what the PSC termed one-off payments at the end of the current term on the eve of the General Election and the start of the next Parliament after the polls.

Among these would be the car grants for the next lot of lawmakers at a combined cost of Sh2.1 billion – each lawmaker is entitled to Sh5 million to buy a good car- and gratuity at Sh2.9 billion.

The workers employed at the county and constituency offices would also get gratuity at a combined Sh2.7 billion while the induction of new MPs is budgeted to cost Sh350 million.

At the time, SRC asked for time to evaluate the terms of service for the existing staff employed by MPs in their constituencies and evaded discussing the severance pay issue on the basis that there is a case in court. The statement last Thursday was however unequivocal in its rejection of the idea.

The Treasury appeared not to like the idea as it was reported to have told Budget committee members that the budget ceiling for Parliament was raised from Sh30 billion to Sh36 billion to cater for the additional expenses.