Taxpayers to fork out Sh2bn for gender top-up MCAs
Nominated members of Mombasa County Assembly Mary Akinyi (right) and Asha Hussein (left) among other leaders in a protest against gender based violence in the county. Some 619 women will have to be nominated to the 47 county assemblies to meet gender requirements. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Taxpayers will fork out an extra Sh2.19 billion annually towards the salaries and allowances of additional MCAs who must be nominated to meet the constitutional threshold of at least one third of members to be of one gender.
- A paltry 96 women were elected to the county assemblies from the 1,450 wards, according to the National Gender and Equality Commission.
- A dozen counties, namely Embu, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kirinyaga, Mandera, Narok, Samburu, Taita-Taveta, Turkana, Wajir, and West Pokot, did not elect a single woman to the local assemblies and will have to nominate at least 10 women each to meet the legal threshold.
Taxpayers are once again facing the prospect of bearing an extra wage bill burden arising from the voters’ decision not to elect enough women to county assemblies during last week’s election.
An extra 619 female members of the county assemblies (MCAs) will have to be nominated across Kenya as none of the 47 counties attained the gender ratio set in the Constitution.
That will require taxpayers to fork out an extra Sh2.19 billion annually towards the salaries and allowances of additional MCAs who must be nominated to meet the constitutional threshold of at least one third of members to be of one gender.
A paltry 96 women were elected to the county assemblies from the 1,450 wards, according to the National Gender and Equality Commission.
A dozen counties, namely Embu, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kirinyaga, Mandera, Narok, Samburu, Taita-Taveta, Turkana, Wajir, and West Pokot, did not elect a single woman to the local assemblies and will have to nominate at least 10 women each to meet the legal threshold.
GENDER COMMISSION
Ms Winfred Lichuma, the chairperson of the gender commission, decried the high price of nominating additional members to meet the gender requirement, saying had Kenyans elected enough women at the ballot, the cash would have been spent on other pressing needs.
“We still have a long way to go to achieve gender parity in political representation. It is evident none of the 47 county assemblies will meet the constitutional threshold of not more than two thirds gender ratio composition,” said Ms Lichuma.
In the outgoing county assemblies, taxpayers paid an additional cost of nominating 680 women after only 84 woman reps were elected.
In total, taxpayers will pay Sh10.98 billion to remunerate occupants of the special gender seats for the entire five-year term.
Unlike the ambiguity with regard to Kenya’s bicameral Parliament, the Constitution expressly provides that county legislatures must nominate extra women to meet the gender requirement.
“A county assembly consists of the number of special seat members necessary to ensure that no more than two thirds of the membership of the assembly is of the same gender,” states Article 177(1b) of the Constitution.
COMMITTEE SESSIONS
The gross take-home for county assembly members stands at about Sh295,742 a month, including a string of stipends to cover transport, mobile phone airtime and sitting allowances.
Ward representatives earn a monthly basic pay of Sh144,375, according to newly-gazetted pay schedule by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
The SRC has capped committee sessions to 16 per month, meaning an MCA can draw a maximum of Sh48,000 a month in sitting allowances at the rate of Sh3,000 per sitting.
Those who chair such committees earn Sh5,000 per session, capped at Sh80,000 monthly.
MCAs are also entitled to a transport allowance based on the distance they cover to visit their wards — with county assembly headquarters acting as point zero.
Those covering a return journey of 200-400km will pocket Sh98,367 monthly and an airtime allowance of Sh5,000 a month.
LEGAL RIGHT
Ms Scheaffer Okore, a programme officer at Siasa Place, said the additional gender cost should serve as a lesson for voters to be more inclusive at the ballot.
“It’s like it must always cost us a lot to do the right thing — in this case having more women representation, which is already a legal right and requirement,” said Ms Okore.
The cost of keeping these gender top-up ward representatives in office will be higher if benefits such as medical cover for family and spouses, personal accident covers, cheap car loans, and low-cost mortgages are factored in.
MCAs get a car loan of Sh2 million and a mortgage of Sh3 million, both charged at a concessional interest rate of three per cent.
At the end of their five-year term, they will also receive gratuity calculated at 31 per cent of their basic pay, which amounts to Sh2.6 million each.
