MPs hatch plan to get Sh3bn as send-off pay for 8 months ‘lost’

MPs have set in motion a plan to get themselves paid an estimated Sh3.7 billion. They say this is for the eight months by which their five-year term will be cut when the General Election is held on August 8.

At a Budget Committee meeting with the Treasury and the salaries commission, the MPs insisted they must be given “severance pay” in lieu of the months they feel entitled to.

The meeting had been convened to receive recommendations on the Supplementary Budget.

During discussion on the matter with the salaries commission head Sarah Serem and Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, journalists were asked to leave.

A parliamentary meeting can be held behind closed doors as long as the reason is given. Budget Committee chairman Mutava Musyimi said there were matters that needed to be discussed in privacy.

Sources inside the meeting later said Ms Serem and Mr Rotich and their teams were told that they must find the severance pay in the 2017/18 financial year.

'TRICKY ISSUE'

The Parliamentary Service Commission was asked to set up a team to negotiate with the salaries team and the Treasury and justify the payment.

“It’s a tricky issue. We might have to seek a legal opinion from the Attorney-General,” said an MP who attended the meeting but asked not to be named because the meeting was held in camera.

The parliamentary commission would include the MPs’ final dues – the gratuity and, if agreed, the severance pay. MPs’ pay will increase to Sh710,000 in their final year. The annual salary increase comes in April, the month they were sworn into office.

MPs and senators now earn an average of Sh1.1 million, which means that the taxpayer will have to part with Sh3.7 billion for the legislators.

The parliamentary commission is yet to submit its estimates for the next financial year to the National Assembly. The Judiciary has asked for Sh17 billion while the Executive is yet to submit theirs through Mr Rotich.

MPs hope that an agreement across the political divide would easily be hammered out into a legal one with little opposition.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Ms Serem hesitated to make a pronouncement on the spot and instead spoke of the legal dilemma if the lawmakers were to be paid for work not done.

SALARIES TEAM ARM-TWISTED

It did not help matters that a vocal member of the the parliamentary commission accused her of being against Parliament.

The salaries team published new pay for MPs three days to the last election but was later arm-twisted into accepting to lift the limit on how much an MP can earn in allowances a month.

Ms Serem asked if it would be legal to have MPs who are re-elected paid when they go back to Parliament, presumably in September, when they have pocketed their dues for that month in severance pay.

Since the National Assembly has 349 members and the Senate has 62 and each earns about Sh1 million a month, this brings the total that they want to be paid to Sh3.3 billion.

One of the arguments against such pay has been that it would trigger similar demands from county assemblies. Reps have filed a case at the High Court on the length of their terms.

MPs are already entitled to a gratuity calculated at the rate of 31 per cent of their annual basic pay and for those who have served at least a cumulative of two terms, a pension of Sh100,000 a month.