House panel puts off decision on MPs' pay
The Parliamentary Service Commission has postponed the discussion on the proposed increase for MPs’ perks to next month.
Two PSC commissioners said the report on salary proposals was time-barred because the team had “a heavy agenda and the discussion of the report came last.
The lawmakers who attended the PSC’s meeting in Mombasa told the Nation.co.ke on Monday that the bulk of the time was spent on discussing Parliament’s 10-year strategic plan.
Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau and Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch, both commissioners with the PSC, said the report on salary proposals for MPs and staff “was not opened.”
“We’ll go through it come February and make sure we put the interests of Kenyans at heart in our recommendations,” said Mr Kamau. “But then Parliament will have the last word on the report.”
Seals not broken
Mr Olago added: “We’ll analyse the proposals, make our recommendations and then present the report to Parliament for its adoption. I can confirm that the seals of the report were not broken, so we still do not know what’s in there.”
A tribunal led by judge Akilano Akiwumi compiled the report after holding countrywide hearings on the matter.
Speculation has been rife that the PSC postponed the report due to the public outrage that greeted Daily Nation’s expose on the Sh46,000 net increase in the salaries of MPs. But the MPs denied this.
The tribunal’s proposals included a Sh150,000 increase in basic salary, and the doubling of sitting allowance to Sh10,000. A five per cent annual pay increase was also proposed in order to cushion the MPs from the rise in cost of living.
There was also a proposal that MPs pay taxes on some of the allowances. The proposals also offer a pay and retirement package for the wives of the President, Vice President and Prime Minister.
Even with the Sh150,000 rise in salaries, the tax liability is minimal. This is so because the MPs currently pay tax only on their Sh200,000 basic salary.
“Taxation should start immediately, so that Kenyans do not keep isolating us as the only group that does not pay tax,” said Mr Kamau, who is also the chair of the House Committee on Implementation.
