WORLD BOOKS AND RECORDS BLOG

The salaries of Members of Parliament are to be increased from Sh851,000 a month to Sh896,000 a month, a tribunal appointed by the House has recommended.

In addition, MPs’ pay will be increased by five per cent every year to cushion them against a rise in the cost of living and their allowances for sitting in parliament have been doubled.

And Prime Minister Raila Odinga is to earn Sh1.67 million every month, some Sh350,000 more than Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka the tribunal says, settling a vexing quarrel over who is President Kibaki’s second-in-command.

But MPs will pay more tax, after their taxed basic salary was increased from Sh200,000 to Sh350,000. The bulk of their income made up of allowances will however not be taxed and, according to the tribunal, cannot be taxed until the law is changed.

The tribunal, chaired by retired Appellate Judge Akilano Akiwumi, agonised over awarding a pay rise for MPs in the face of public hostility and an economy in recession. Indeed, the tribunal gives eloquent reasons why a salary increase at this time is not wise.

The increase has been achieved by removing one of the MPs’ three car allowances, adding part of it to the basic pay and spreading the rest to other allowances.

All other allowances have been increased, some such as sitting allowance, more than twice.

It is no doubt that Kenyan MPs, and Ministers are the highest paid politicians in the world. A comparison made with pay of leaders in most developed countries like USA and Britain and some African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda by International Jurist Commission – Kenya leaves no doubt to the veracity of this assertion. Furthermore, the high pay compares poorly with the low per capita economic figures in Kenya and the poor performance of the MPs in the parliament.