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Mercy Mwai @wangumarci

Members of Parliament last evening failed to marshall  233 members or two-thirds of the House to overturn the decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta to reject the Parliamentary Pension (Amendment) Bill.

Legislators passed the President’s recommendations opposing  the pay perks without making any changes to it.

Decision by the MPs now means that  the former MPs will not get the monthly pension as the President’s reservations carried the day.

The Bill was seeking to amend Section Eight of the Parliamentary Pensions Act to provide for an entitlement for former legislators, who served between July 1, 1984 and January 1, 2001 to a monthly pension of Sh100,000.

Earlier, the departmental Committee on Finance, chaired by Homa Bay Woman Rep Gladys Wanga (pictured), had appealed to their colleagues to oppose the President’s recommendations on grounds that they are not valid.

Earning currency 

“The committee having considered the President’s reservations to the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2019, recommends that the House agrees with its decision to reject the President’s Memorandum and the recommendation to delete Clause Two of the Bill,” the report.

According to the committee, although the President’s refusal to agree with the House as contained in the Bill is valid, his actions do not take into consideration the plight of the former legislators.

In the report, the committee said that President Uhuru failed to put in to consideration the inflation and high cost of living that makes it impossible for the former MPs to survive on the pensions that they are earning currently.

In addition, the committee regretted that former legislators go through difficulties after their service in terms of employability unlike other government employees and thus deserve to be paid better.

Had the President signed the Bill in the form that had been passed by the house, the former lawmakers would have gotten their benefits backdated to July, 2010, as per the recommendations of Akilano Akiwumi Task Force.