SRC move to revoke MPs’ allowances commendable

The recommendation by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to strike out plenary sitting allowances for MPs is welcome.

It’s difficult to understand how legislators receive sitting allowances for doing the job already given to them by Kenyan voters and for which they are fairly compensated.

It’s no wonder that politicians have often seen public service as an avenue for greed and the fleecing of taxpayers.

The National Assembly has 349 MPs while the Senate has 67 members, all earning a uniform plenary sitting allowance of Sh5, 000 every time they log in to the House. While the National Assembly holds four sittings a week, the Senate has three.

Statistics from Parliament indicate that up to last Thursday, the National Assembly had a total of 585 sittings.

The House will have 595 sittings by the end of the 12th Parliament. MPs are more than fairly compensated. They earn a salary of Sh710,000 and are entitled to a Sh7 million car grant, mileage allowance and a mortgage facility of Sh20 million payable at an interest rate of three per cent per annum to be cleared within five years.

The 416 MPs will, in a new deal, get an enhanced taxable car grant of Sh10 million once every five years. They are also entitled to a medical scheme of Sh10 million inpatient cover per family, Sh300,000 for outpatient cover, Sh150,000 for maternity and Sh75,000 for dental care.

It is, therefore, welcome that the SRC is doing away with the plenary sitting allowances. They must sit and earn their pay, with no demand for any extra compensation.

With the tough economic times, MPs should join the queue to take a cut. This also calls for harmonisation of allowances in the public service, which the SRC needs to undertake publicly, with the input of taxpayers and other stakeholders.

In the same vein, a review of the public wage bill, which has been ballooning over time, should be done alongside the proposed cuts by the SRC.