Parliamentary team clears MPs on use of ShSh569m
Auditor-General Edward Ouko speaks before the National Assembly's Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee about a social economic report of the country, on March 1, 2018. He has questioned the use of Sh569.4 million by MPs over the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The SRC told the PSC to pay mileage based on the rates of the Automobile Association and the distance from the MP’s home.
The Public Accounts Committee has defended Parliament’s decision to pay MPs’ mileage allowances without clear guidelines and cleared it of queries raised by the Auditor-General on more than Sh500 million spent over two years.
In a report tabled and adopted this week, PAC argued that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) issued two contradictory circulars in 2013 and Parliament can therefore not be blamed.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko had raised the query on the payment of Sh569.4 million over the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years without clear guidelines.
AA RATES
Mr Ouko had noted that when asked, Parliament’s Accounting Officer referred to a decision by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to continue talks with SRC to clarify that the mileage allowance is payable to MPs who travel beyond 750 km per month.
When the matter came up at the PAC meeting, the Clerk of the Senate explained that MPs are paid mileage on the basis that they have to travel between their offices in Nairobi and their constituencies.
The SRC released a circular on June 2013 providing guidance to the PSC, and told it to pay mileage based on the rates of the Automobile Association and the distance from the MP’s home.
DISTANCE COVERED
Before that circular was issued, PSC had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the SRC stating that for the first 750 km, each MP would get Sh356,525 per month.
For distances beyond the 750 km, the rate would be Sh109.8 for the 750 km for the 52 weeks in a year, meaning that each MP who goes that distance would get an additional Sh356,850 per month.
The SRC would on November 2013 issue another circular, this time adding the provision for MPs who travel beyond the 750 km be paid for every additional kilometre covered.
SRC CIRCULARS
The accounting officer argued that faced with two apparently contradicting circulars from the SRC, the PSC interpreted them as per the law and paid using the rates that the Auditor-General later flagged as irregular.
The PAC said: “Noting that the SRC circular dated June 11, 2013, is clear and precise on the processing of mileage allowance, the committee resolves that the PSC be guided by the said circular, thereby resolving the audit query.”
