MPs’ salaries will be based on previous rates, says Muturi

By Jacob Ngetich

NAIROBI, KENYA: National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi has waded into the touchy debate on National Assembly members’ salaries, insisting that the Parliamentary Service Commission PSC will pay them according to the previous scale.

The MPs have been embroiled in a tussle with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) over a move to have their pay reduced from Sh851,000 to Sh532, 500.

In an exclusive interview with The Standard on Sunday, Muturi said the PSC, which he chairs, has the ultimate responsibility to decide the fate of the salaries and nobody could override it.

“We have not effected the pay but it will be based on what they were paid before,” said the Speaker. 

Illegality

The National Assembly boss accused the Serem commission of attempting an illegality by purporting to repeal laws without following due process.

He said the Constitution states clearly that the PSC is the organ mandated to provide services and facilities to ensure efficient and effective functioning of Parliament, including preparing annual estimates of expenditure and submitting them to the National Assembly for approval.

He said until due process is followed in reviewing the salaries, PSC is still the only commission that can set and review the legislators’ remuneration.

Muturi’s move is likely to elicit uproar from the public, as 86 per cent of Kenyans support the decision by the SRC to review the salaries, according to a survey by Ipsos Synovate.

On Wednesday, a group of demonstrators stormed Parliament to protest MPs demand for a pay increase.

Last week, MPs unanimously passed a petition to disband the SRC which was tabled in the House by Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi.

Pay increment

SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem has previously vowed not to give in to MPs’ pay increment demands, urging them to accept what they have been offfered or resign if the salary is too little.

According to Serem, gone are days when the MPs had power to set their own pay and an attempt to do so would be unconstitutional.

“It is the SRC which has the mandate to set pay for State Officers as per the Constitution, not other body and it was established under Article 230 to determine pay for State Officers, including MPs,” she said.