Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
28 November 2008
Nairobi — The decision by Members of Parliament to block taxation of their hefty allowances is unjust and immoral, according to the Catholic Church.
On Tuesday, the MPs ganged up to shoot down a proposal to tax their allowances, denying the country Sh600 million a year. The legislators have as a result come under intense public criticism.
Archbishop Peter Kairo, the chairman of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, noted in a statement on Thursday that often in Kenya's parliament, Bills that are beneficial to the people fail to pass due to lack of political will, personality issues or lack of quorum.
"However, when parliamentarians are directly affected or have a specific interest then they are quick to assemble and act. Not only do they continue to award themselves more and more payouts but now [they] have deemed themselves special and apart from the rest of Kenyans by applying pressure for their benefits not to be taxed."
Only the Sh200,000 basic salary of the 222 MPs is taxed. Archbishop Kairo said paying tax is lawful and necessary to raise money for public services.
The archbishop wondered, "Is it really fair that a labourer earning Sh12,000 per month should dutifully pay his taxes, buying highly priced food, cooking oil, foregoing salt and meat, paying rent, school fess, etc and barely scraping together an existence, when MPs earning over Sh800,000 per month feel that they shouldn't pay tax on their benefits?"
Nearly half of Kenyans live below the poverty line and important workers like nurses and teachers are poorly paid, Archbishop KAiro said. "We urge the politicians to be fair, reasonable and responsible Kenyan citizens."
Only a few MPs have asked to have their benefits taxed, and House Speaker Kenneth Marende said he will ensure their request is granted. Archbishop Kairo praised the MPs for their patriotism.
An opinion poll conducted by the country's reading newspaper the Daily Nation found that 90 percent of Kenyans want MPs' allowances taxed.
In a related development, a news report published on Monday indicated that parliamentarians spend tens of millions of shillings every month in non-essential trips abroad. Some 145 MPs (out of the 222) have spent more than Sh116 million on official travels since March. Their favourite destinations are the United Sates, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Sweden.
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