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Kenya: Double-Dipping MPs Earned Sh11 Million in Illegal Mileage Allowances

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4 years ago

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An audit report has unearthed how MPs claimed mileage allowances amounting to Sh11 million though some of them were travelling abroad and also pocketing foreign subsistence allowances.

The report tabled in Parliament for the financial year to June 2020 has put the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) on the spot for failing to recover the millions of taxpayer money paid irregularly to MPs.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu noted that three lawmakers, who are not named, were paid three times for the same trip they made.

MPs are entitled to a mileage allowance calculated at the Automobile Association rate of Sh187 per kilometre while travelling by road to their respective constituencies.

But those who travel less than 750km from Parliament to their homes are not entitled to the benefit.

The mileage allowance was one of the contentious issues when the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) locked horns with lawmakers last year.

But implementation of the SRC’s salary reviews was halted by the High Court in December 2017.

Biggest frauds

Last week, Khandara MP Alice Wahome described mileage claims as one of the biggest frauds in Parliament where MPs mint millions of shillings for trips they do not make.

Ms Wahome said some of her colleagues do not make any road trips to their respective constituencies for a whole month but falsify receipts and claim the mileage allowance from the exchequer amounting to millions of shillings.