Raila insists on equal pay with President

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has finally broken his long silence over the matter of his salary and now says it should be based on the constitutional partnership between ODM and PNU.

Speaking for the first time since the Nation exclusively reported on Monday that the PM has not earned dues in relation to his new office, Mr Odinga said that although he wanted salaries of politicians reduced, his functions were not delegated like those of the Vice-President and therefore their salaries should not be the same.

Mr Odinga argued that the National Accord and Reconciliation Act, which established the coalition government, put him at par with President Kibaki.

This effectively confirmed that for the nine months Mr Odinga has been PM, he has only been paid as MP for Langata and drawn the allowances of a Cabinet minister.

To light

The matter was brought to light after communication from the Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura’s office to the National Assembly Clerk Patrick Gichohi was revealed. Mr Muthaura had written saying the PM’s salary should be the same as that of the Vice-President.

But, speaking to the Sunday Nation, Mr Odinga said: “I am not looking at it in terms of the amount of money ... in fact I want the remuneration reduced. But no impression should be created that one partner is junior.”

The PM, however, said he was prepared to wait until the matter was resolved.

“I am comfortable earning what I am getting,” he said.

In his communication, Mr Muthaura had proposed that the PM and VP earn Sh1.3 million with the deputy prime ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta getting Sh950,000.

However, some ODM MPs rejected this idea saying Mr Odinga’s pay should match that of President Kibaki who gets a Sh2 million basic salary and draws Sh1.2 million monthly in various allowances.

And to push for this, the permanent secretary in the Prime Minister’s office, Dr Mohamed Isahakia, wrote to the Clerk of the National Assembly saying it was unfair for Mr Odinga to perform his official duties without corresponding pay.

Mr Odinga is the supervisor and coordinator of government activities, and chairs Cabinet sub-committees.

ODM’s contention

Sources privy to the communication told the Sunday Nation that Dr Isahakia had asked for the issue of the PM’s pay to be discussed, determined and that his due salary be paid to him urgently.

To this end, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) met to deliberate on the issue.

ODM’s contention is that the Prime Minister is an equal partner with President Kibaki as far as the National Accord and Reconciliation Act that created his office is concerned.

In a strong indication that the matter might find its way into Parliament, one legislator proposed that the PSC raise the matter before the House to resolve through the ballot.

Indeed, the Accord, which was signed on February 28 last year, gives Parliament the responsibility to determine the salary of the PM and his two deputies.

The Accord also states that power shall be shared on a 50:50 basis and that this must be taken into consideration when remunerating the PM. Mr Odinga insists that his salary is supposed to be determined by only two institutions – Parliament and the Executive.

“The PM’s is an office like that of the President because it is entrenched in the Constitution. However, the argument has been how he should be remunerated,” he said.