The Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s move to abolish allowances and car grants for MPs and MCAs is laudable as it will save taxpayers more resources that can be channelled to development.

This was a very bold move considering that members of the last Parliament were pushing for a 62 per cent pay increase from between Sh621,250 and Sh710,000 they earned to Sh1.15 million monthly and Ksh2.5 million car grant.

The new MPs must shun creating any conflict with SRC on this move as it will contradict a deal Kenya inked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to freeze salaries for all public servants for two years to 2025.

Last year, allowances for all public servants were capped at 40 per cent of their gross monthly pay starting this year, as the State moves to lower the public sector wage bill and free up more funds for development projects.

The MPs’ pay freeze is expected to help rein in public sector salaries to free up cash for development projects. SCR’s new move on MPs alone will save the Treasury at least 382 million.

Although the MPs’ basic monthly pay has been reduced from Sh532,500 to Sh426,000 with their plenary sitting allowance of Sh5,000 abolished, they have been awarded Sh150,000 in house allowance, a new benefit.

Kenyan legislators have been ranked as the second-highest paid  in the world, way ahead of their counterparts in the developed economies of US, Britain and Japan.

A study by the UK-based Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that the MPs basic pay, which excludes allowances, is 76 times Kenya’s GDP per capita of Sh84,624.

The politicians earn a basic salary of Sh6.39 million per year but Kenya’s per capita income is much lower than that of rich countries, translating into comparatively high pay for the MPs.

In addition to the lucrative allowances, MPs also enjoy Sh5 million official car grant scheme to buy luxury cars every five-year term, a personal car loan from the government of as much as Sh7 million repayable at an all-time low interest of three per cent interest.

The high pay has distorted Kenya’s public sector remuneration in which minimum wage for skilled laborers such as gardeners, messengers and watchmen is pegged at Sh8,579 per month. In spite of this attractive remuneration, Parliament always has a backlog of unfinished business.

MPs and MCAs should view their electoral victory as a privilege to serve the people and not an avenue to make money.

Ordinary people are facing a high cost of living and politicians should not be taking home generous perks.