Not your ordinary councillor

As councillors around the country are demanding higher pay and MPs are flatly refusing to pay taxes on their allowances, a member of the Meru Municipal Council has set a precedent by becoming the first politician to donate his entire salary to area voters.

Councillor Rahim Dawood of Commercial Ward has been donating his monthly salary to people chosen by the electorate since he won a council seat in last year’s general elections.

Every three months he assembles voters in the area where a draw is conducted to pick nine people who walk away with Sh90,000h, his accumulated salary.

Mr Dawood, the first elected councillor of Asian origin in the Meru region, also gives Sh30,000 in school fees to three of his lucky supporters.

During the campaign, the father of two promised to donate his entire salary to raise the living standards of the people in his ward. “When I campaigned to get elected as the councillor for Commercial Ward, I pledged to give my salary to my supporters. I want to honour my pledge,” he said.

The councillor would like to see local authorities given more power to implement the policies they make.

“We are not directly responsible for policies implemented in civic bodies. We are only asked to make recommendations on policies, but we do not actually implement them. If we had more responsibilities, we could get funds from the consolidated fund,” he said.

On the matter of pay raises for civic leaders, Mr Dawood said the money should not come from local authorities.

“This will deprive the councils of money to meet basic obligations,” he said.

Commercial Ward, the most populous in the municipality, is located at the heart of Meru town. The majority of its voters come from Majengo, Shauri Yako and Mjini slums which have the highest levels of unemployment and crime.

Last Saturday, hundreds of Mr Dawood’s supporters gathered at Nteere grounds where the draws are usually held. Nine people received Sh10,000 each as “salary,” and three others received Sh10,000 each for school fees.

Charity work

If he keeps his word, Mr Dawood will have donated more than Sh1.8 million by the end of his term. He has been involved in charity work since 1983.

“I signed a donor card in 1983 while studying in Britain that when I die, my organs that can be donated, be given out,” he told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Dawood has contributed substantially to various community projects in Meru. Concerned by the overcrowding at the Meru District Hospital, he funded construction of a paediatric ward.

He has also funded a girls’ dormitory at the Kaaga School for the mentally handicapped and paid for the construction of a kitchen at the women’s section of the Meru GK Prison. He is also involved in various community water projects, the most recent being a project in Shauri Yako..

The man whose parents settled in Kenya in the early 1900s has received several awards, including decorations from both President Kibaki and retired President Moi.

In 1996, Mr Dawood’s efforts to improve the livelihoods of the poor were noted by Mr Moi who awarded him a Service to the Community medal. He was also among a select number of distinguished Kenyans who received the Head of State Commendation award in 2005.

Mr Dawood is a businessman with interests in the hotel industry, petroleum dealership, long-haul transport and real estate. He is the acting vice-chairman of the Meru Chamber of Commerce.

Asked why he ventured into politics, Mr Dawood said he had always wanted to be in a leadership position where he could help in making key decisions that would affect the lives of the ordinary mwananchi. “We need to empower our people to become self-reliant,” he said.