MP’s job no longer attractive

When the bell tolls for the next elections, all of Kitui County’s six Members of Parliament will retire and seek higher office.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka will be running for the presidency which will automatically disqualify him from defending his Mwingi North parliamentary seat.

Similarly, Kitui Central’s Charity Ngilu has given all indications that she will run for the senate and, if that be the case, she will run against Mwingi South’s David Musila.

Mutito’s Kiema Kilonzo, his Kitui West counterpart Charles Nyamai and Mutomo’s Isaac Muoki will be battling it out for the governor’s position.

The situation in Kitui county replicates the picture across the country where more than half of the sitting MPs are angling for senator’s or governor’s job in their constituencies.

This move is prompted by the diminishing clout of MPs brought about by the new Constitution which dispersed most of the powers they wielded to other offices at the national and county levels, and took away most of the privileges they enjoyed.

Under the old constitution, if the President liked an MP, he or she stood a good chance of being appointed Cabinet minister. These positions were used by presidential candidates as bargaining chips during their campaigns and to maintain support while in office.

Ministers were appointed and dismissed at the whim of the President. No questions were asked about their competence or integrity to hold the posts. Some were even appointed with corruption cases pending in the courts.

Not any more. The new Constitution stipulates that Cabinet secretaries will not come from Parliament but rather from the public or private service. And they will have to be vetted by the National Assembly.

In the old order, the MPs could, with a vote in the House, raise their salaries as they wished. But this power has shifted to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, which is mandated to set and regularly review remuneration and benefits of all State officers.

Under a salaries review that is expected to take place once the commission is in place, it is widely expected that MPs’ hefty salaries will be slashed.

In addition, they will be required to pay due tax on all their earnings. Initially MPs only paid income tax on Sh200,000 of their Sh850,000 pay. The new Constitution provides that no public official is exempt from paying tax.

From the moment the new Constitution was promulgated on August 27 last year, the incomes of constitutional office holders became taxable.

MPs have lost even further as the Constitution bars them from holding political party positions. The majority of legislators hold political party offices and many have used them to seek bigger political fortunes.

In their constituencies, MPs control key institutions which they use to build their political fortunes at the grassroots. For example, an MP could appoint his campaigners to the constituency development committee.

And now the constituency is expected to shrink with the expected creation of 80 new voting areas.

Reflecting on these dramatic changes, Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau said, rather cheekily, that “we will have time to cross the streets without creating much ado”. He said the clout of the MPs might even be reduced further with the full implementation of the Constitution.

Perhaps it is for this reason that he and a good number of his colleagues have decided to look up to “higher posts” – either as senators or governors. Most of the powers MPs wielded have been transferred to county governments where the governor will call the shots.

Will be subordinate

For one, the governor will be in charge of several constituencies represented by MPs, meaning MPs will be somehow subordinate at the grassroots level. But the real power of the governors lies in the enormous resources they will control. According to the Constitution, a governor will be in charge of the county government. County governments will receive 15 per cent of the national budget.

Perhaps it is the realisation of this fact that has forced an increasing number of MPs to eye this post. Among those who have expressly stated that they would not be defending their seats are seasoned politicians like Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, Mr David Musila, Mr Mwangi Kiunjuri and Mr Gitobu Imanyara.

Those who want to go back to the National Assembly probably recognise what it will take to clinch the position of either a governor or senator.
Mr Njoroge Baiya of Githunguri said: “Campaigning for MP is already a damn expensive affair, how much more will it require for a county which covers several constituencies? You must clearly understand the financial implications of it. In my view, these positions are for the rich.”

Kimilili’s Simiyu Eseli said he had not built a sufficient political network to enable him clinch the governor’s post of Bungoma County next year.

“To be a governor one needs to be known and popular throughout the county. For me, this is a dream perhaps for 2017,” he said.

And from Hamisi, George Khaniri said he will not vie for the Vihiga governor’s post because he lacks the managerial skills he thinks would be required of a governor.

“I have spent my time in politics doing politics, not managing and, therefore, I would not want to fool my voters that I can make it,” he said.

The Senate has been derogatorily termed as a “house of glorified old men” but Mr Khaniri maintains that the office would boost his future presidential ambitions.

“The governor will be confined to a small area of the country while the senator still maintains a national profile, and I think that will help me when I make that big decision in the future.”

These are tough choices for politicians. A lot of factors are put into consideration into these decisions.

Eldoret South MP Peris Simam said she was giving herself time to decide which position she will vie for especially now that the Cabinet has suggested a December election date rather than August next year.

She might not say it, but those in the know say she might be waiting to see how the politics of the next General Election will unfold, considering that she and Eldoret North MP, Mr William Ruto, come from the same county.

“No one is sure about anything in Uasin Gishu. The mathematics of 2012 could as well force Ruto to run for governor, so you wouldn’t want to make decisions at this moment that may backfire,” said one of Mrs Simam’s political strategists who did not wish to be named discussing her political plan.

But Mrs Simam is not alone in this kind of dilemma. Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode, while conceding that the governor’s post is perhaps the job everyone is eyeing, said it would be up to his constituents to decide which position suits him best.

“Even if I want to be governor, my people might decide that I serve them better as an MP and I will have to go by their wishes if I still want to remain a leader. But I know most of those who want to be governors are just looking at dipping their hands into the county tills,” he said.

Since independence, competition for parliamentary seats has been a hotly contested affair that has brought out the best and the worst of the Kenyan democracy.

Dull affair

Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka contends that this period is over. Mr Onyonka reckons that the next and subsequent parliamentary elections might be a dull affair.

“It will attract less competitive candidates unlike in the past when it attracted professionals from different fields,” he said.

Despite their diminishing clout, MPs will still play a crucial role in national politics. Their core work in the National Assembly will be to make laws.

And Forestry minister Dr Noah Wekesa says the changes will allow the MPs to play the roles for which they were elected.

“The current MP is a jack of all trades – a Cabinet minister, fund-raiser and so many other roles that blur their actual roles. In future the executive will do their work, the governor will look at local issues and the MP will be freer to discharge legislative roles,” he said