Kenya: Our MPs are at it again. They want to raise their salaries and allowances. This time, they want to achieve this by changing the Constitution to remove themselves and a plethora of other public office holders from the category of state officers.
Their sole aim of doing this is to place themselves away from the ambit of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Once they make this amendment, the next thing would be to hike their salaries and allowances.
This move by parliamentarians is the latest in a series of blatant actions of impunity aimed at circumventing the decision by the Kenyan people — through the new Constitution — to bring under control the runaway public wage bill and the never-ending greed by MPs who raid public coffers whenever they feel they can do with more cash.
In proposing the formation of SRC and embedding it in the supreme law, Kenyans sought to bring fairness in civil service remuneration, keep government salaries within sustainable levels and check the greed by MPs.
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The arguments presented by the public during the run-up to writing a new constitution was that the situation where MPs were allowed to set their own salaries and allowances was untenable because it was a contradiction to allow anyone to determine their own pay.
When the SRC set MPs’ pay at Sh533,000 per month, the honourable members kicked up a storm and closed ranks to call for an increment which they got after Deputy President William Ruto brokered an agreement between them and the commission.
MPs have in the past had their way by arm-twisting the executive in refusing to pass certain crucial bills. It is high time that the MPs paused to think hard about this matter in the interest of the public.
Their pay of close to Sh1 million per month — in a country where more than half of the population lives below the internationally defined poverty line — is way above what can be called fair.
We wish to remind parliamentarians that in a democracy the august House is bestowed a very noble responsibility. They are to make laws that are just to all people and they should do this without fear or favour. It is for this reason that we have over the years fought for the independence of Parliament. That independence should not be abused.
The MPs may have the audacity to carry through with the amendment and they could even have the law on their side. However, amending the Constitution for the sole purpose of increasing salaries of government fat cats is a monumental misjudgement. History will judge them harshly.
