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On Thursday, 6th March
2003, Kenyan MPs passed a motion in Parliament raising their basic salaries and
other allowances, a move that continue to be opposed by all Kenyans who are
concerned at the outright theft of public funds by individuals who are supposed
to control spending of State funds in the public interest. What was more
annoying was that the bill in Parliament increasing the 222 MPs pay was the
first item the MPs tackled after the new government was elected on a “popular
wave” to correct the wrongs of the former dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi. Worse still, the huge
perks came at a time when Kenya’s budget deficit stood at Ksh
65 billion and as the new government engaged the IMF
and World Bank to release aid totalling to Ksh 300
billion. The following is a summary of how Kenyan MPs are looting the country’s
economy. As MPs make their contributions in shattering the economy, the ruling Narc government is telling Kenyans that it is trying to
turn the economy around by creative a conducive environment where foreign
investors can bring business that will make the economy to thrive.
1. Basic salary: Ksh
495,000, up from Ksh 395,000.
2. Monthly housing allowance: Ksh 70,000. Every MP is also entitled to a Ksh 8 million for the purchase of a residential house. The argument
is that an MP ia a very
important person representing thousand of people in Parliament and should
therefore live in a decent house.
3. Car grant: Ksh 3.3
million.
4. Monthly car allowance: Ksh
75,000. This is to fuel the car and help with running expenses.
5. Winding up allowance: Ksh
300,000. This is money given to every MP to “round off the year” after every
year. For the five years an MP sits in Parliament, he/she scoops a clean Ksh 1.5 million from the tax payer.
6. Monthly entertainment allowance: Ksh 60,000. This money is to enable MPs entertain guests by
buying them food, drinks, and other luxuries as he goes cruising around the
country “in the interest of constituents”.
7. Monthly extraneous allowance: Ksh 30,000. This money is to enable the MP
take care of “unexpected expenses”
in the line of duty.
8. Sitting allowance: Ksh
3,000 per sitting. The assembly sits four times a week and this brings the
amount to Ksh 12,000 a month or Ksh
48,000 per year.
9. Monthly constituency allowance: Ksh 1.6 million. The MPs voted for an annual Constituency
allowance of Ksh 20 million which was passed without
much opposition. The MP has a free hand in the spending of this money through a
hand picked Committee drawn from sycophants and other loyalists trailing
his/her convoy.
The
President earns Ksh 2 million and has an
entertainment allowance of Ksh 200,000. Despite
opposition from Kenyans, the salaries and allowances are active today. Every
member of Parliament therefore has an opportunity of becoming a millionaire
while their constituents have nothing to eat and as workers who pay taxes the MPs are
looting are living on starvation wages. Because of this open theft of public funds, KSDA is calling for a
change of the system to that which will remove privileges for Parliamentarians
by reducing MP salaries to that of a skilled worker. Politics is not business
and there is no justification whatsoever for the hefty salaries and allowances
when the President himself has said that the government is broke and when the
regime is openly begging money from the West to finance public programs.
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Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
grant
while the salary package will cover an entertainment allowance of Ksh 60,000 a month and an extraneous allowance of Ksh 30,000 a month. The President's salary will shoot from Ksh 150,000 to Ksh 2 million
which will be tax free followed by other hefty allowances including an
entertainment allowance of Ksh 200,000 per month.