Kenya's speaker, MPs angry over sitting allowance abolishment

According to him, the National Assembly has always been discriminated against, and this latest move was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

He argued that lawmakers have a lot of burdens to discharge for their constituents and the nation at large, but are not compensated commensurately.

"MPs are the only state officers without a house allowance yet they have two working stations -- Parliament and their constituencies. The removal of the plenary sitting allowance means that the Executive will find it difficult to have its agenda in the House passed," Muturi vowed, as quoted by tuko.co.ke.

The news website reports that Kenya’s Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has abolished plenary sitting allowances for all 416 members of Parliament.

It also rejected a proposal by the MPs to earn a KSH 1.2 million salary and instead maintained their monthly taxable income of KSH 710,000.

The eastern African country’s National Assembly consists of 349 MPs, while the Senate has 67 members.

Before the controversial abolishment, MPs were earning a plenary allowance of KSh 5,000, reports say.

It is reported that with the latest directive by the Lyn Mengich-led commission, the government of Kenya is likely to save KSh 382.2 million.

The abolishment of the allowance was reportedly communicated to the lawmakers during a speaker's informal meeting on Wednesday, July 27, sparking negative reactions.

However, the legislators will receive an augmented taxable car grant of KSh 10 million every five years.

Hitherto, "a committee chairperson is entitled to a gross of KSh 15,000 per sitting, while the vice chairperson received KSh 10,000, and a member earned KSh 8,000 per sitting", tuko.co.ke report said.

With the abolishment of the sitting allowance for the legislators, Kenya’s parliament may witness some acrimonious moments in the future as the development is likely to create friction between them and the executive.