Activists hold demo to protest MPs' hefty bonus

NAIROBI,

Demonstrators marched in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday to protest hefty sendoff bonus that Members of Parliament apportioned themselves through an amendment on their remuneration.

The proposed lucrative pay off - at a cost of Ksh 2 billion - comes in the wake of national strikes by doctors, lecturers and teachers.

A worker earning the national minimum wage would have to work for 61 years in order to earn the amount the MPs have voted to pay themselves.

"It is totally ridiculous for the MPs to award themselves such an amount of money," said Morris Odhiambo, who helped organise the demonstration.

The demonstrators, waving placards with messages such as "MPs are thieves" and "greedy hyenas", marched through central Nairobi to parliament.

"We want them to know that the public mood is against this unjustified increment," said Robert Alai, another of the organisers.

Kenyan lawmakers are already some of the best paid on the continent, with a tax-free monthly salary.

Legislators introduced an amendment Thursday that would see them paid a total of 2.1 billion shillings in bonuses.

Each of the 222 members and the speaker would get Ksh 9.3 million as a sendoff package at the end of their current term.

"How come our teachers had to strike for three weeks to get a salary hike, yet within a single sitting the MPs could easily increase their remuneration," Odhiambo said. "So where is the two billion shillings going to come from?"

The proposed golden handshake - which must still be ratified by President Kibaki - comes after the Finance ministry has already proposed tax rises to pay for public sector wage increase demands.

Rights groups, including Transparency International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission, said in a joint statement the move was "extremely disturbing" and broke constitutional rules.

The statement called on Kenyans to let lawmakers "know that they are not willing to foot the cost of their greed."

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said he is "against the MP's gratuity bonus."

Kenya is due to hold in March 2013 the first general election since deadly post-poll violence four and half years ago.

Kenya's government was propped up by some $270 million in foreign aid in 2010-2011, according to official figures, and faces a $1.6 billion deficit in the year ahead.