Taxpayers pay Sh2.2b to send legislators home
Kenya’s overburdened taxpayers are set to cough up over Sh2.2 billion to pay the 416 MPs and Senators whose tenure in the 12th Parliament ends today when the two Houses adjourn sine die this afternoon.
Figures released by the Parliamentary Pensions Scheme indicate that each MP and Senator who has served for only one term will be entitled to Sh5.8 million as their send-off package.
Legislators who have served for more than one term will receive a full pension amounting to Sh7.8 million. The money includes members' savings, calculated at 15 per cent interest per annum.
In the current Parliament, 12 MPs are serving their fourth, fifth or sixth term in office.
Outgoing Clerk of the National Assembly, Michael Sialai, says members are not eligible to receive a gratuity, but they will receive pensions from their own scheme.
Longest serving
“Members who have served for one term will be entitled to Sh5.8 million from the scheme while those who have done more than one (term) will get their pension,” said Sialai who is headed to Namibia to serve as Kenya’s High Commissioner.
The Pension Fund was introduced in 1986 by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC).
Out of the 416 lawmakers, the longest serving are senators James Orengo, Moses Wetangula and George Khaniri and MPs Adan Keynan (Eldas) and Jimmy Angwenyi (Kitutu Chache North). They will each receive Sh7.8 million as pension and Sh180,000 as a monthly stipend for life.
Other long serving lawmakers are Naomi Shaban (Taveta), Wafula Wamunyinyi (Kanduyi), Maoka Maore (Igembe North) and Sicily Mbarire (Nominated) who were serving their fourth terms alongside Katoo ole Metito (Kajiado South), Samuel Moroto (Kapenguria), Maina Kamanda (Nominated) and Gideon Konchella (Kilgoris).
Ex-presidents
MPs who have served for three terms include Victor Munyaka (Machakos Town), John Mbadi (Suba South), Daniel Maanzo (Makueni), Olago Aluoch (Kisumu Town West) and Millie Odhiambo (Suba North).
They too will get the same perks. Those who have served one term will receive Sh5.8 million.
Every election, close to 60 per cent of MPs are voted out, according to statistics from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
For instance, in the 2017 election, 170 MPs from the 290 constituencies did not make it back to the National Assembly, representing about 59 per cent.
Each of these members received Sh5.8 million from the Parliamentary Pension Scheme at the time.
In the Senate, 30 others lost their seats, meaning 73.83 per cent did not make it back. All the 30 received Sh5.8 million.
Late former presidents Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki, late former Kajiado North MP George Saitoti, President Uhuru Kenya, Deputy President William Ruto, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, former Ford People leader Simeon Nyachae and former Bobasi MP Chris Obure were also beneficiaries of the Pension Scheme.
The send-off package will come as a welcome relief to majority of the MPs who are currently fighting to retain their seats or ascend to higher offices - such as the governor or senator - in the August election.
It will also come as a relief for majority of lawmakers who have been forced to pay back millions of shillings they received as house allowance before it was discontinued following a court order.
Illegal allowance
Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ decision to surcharge the MPs for the money saying they unlawfully awarded themselves the allowance in 2018.
The Supreme Court rejected the legislators’ plea to suspend the judgment, and declared that the money was illegally siphoned from taxpayers.
Chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, the five-judge Bench dismissed an application by the lawmakers to grant an order staying the Court of Appeal’s decision directing both Clerks of the National Assembly and the Senate to recover the Sh1.2 billion that was already paid out to MPs as accommodation and facilitative allowance.
The stay was to remain in place until their main appeal was heard and determined.
The Bench dismissed the application by the MPs and Senators saying it lacked merit and sent them back to the Court of Appeal for the hearing of the main petition.
However, Sialai downplayed the judgment, saying that the Parliamentary Service Commission had been effecting deductions on MPs’ salaries to recover the money since December 2021.
“We implemented (deductions) in December 2021 and all recoveries would have been made by end of June 2022,” he said.
The MPs had been receiving Sh250,000 each as house allowance without the approval of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Yesterday, Keynan defended the perks, saying the money was deserved.
“Politics has two aspects – pressure and pleasure. You have to strike a balance between the two. Expectations are always high, and you must be accessible to the people who sent you to articulate their issues,” Keynan said.
