Nairobi — PARLIAMENTARY remuneration appears to be far greater than presently thought.
Members of Parliament each receive total monthly salary, allowances and benefits of Sh 1,435,846. This is an average figure. Some MPs may get more, some may get less. Considering it is mostly tax free, this equates to monthly remuneration in excess of Sh 2,000,000.
The new amount is almost double the popularly accepted figure of Sh 850,000 for the monthly benefits of each MP.
The Nairobi Star acquired the information through a document titled Kenya National Assembly Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2008/9 up to 2010/11. The document was filed in a court case yesterday before Justice Nyamu where Okoiti Omtata is seeking to have the allowances approved by the Parliamentary Service Commission declared unconstitutional.
Reputedly, members each earn Sh 200,000 basic salary which is subject to tax. But strangely only Sh117,568 is budgeted for their monthly pay.
However the allowances which make up the bulk of their salaries are not taxed.
MPs have refused to pay tax on their allowances and in October expunged a clause in the Finance Act that would have forced them to pay the tax.
Speaker Kenneth Marende later asked members, who were feeling "philanthropic enough" to go ahead and pay tax.
The total annual costs of benefits for MPs comes to Sh 3,825,094,424 which gives an average monthly figure for 222 elected and nominated MPs of Sh 1,435,846.
The single biggest item is Personal Allowances which cost Sh 1,866,644,424 annually. The breakdown for the average monthly Personal Allowances of Sh 700,000 for each MP are House Allowance Sh 42,500; Responsibility Sh 2,250; Entertainment Sh 67,000; Transport Sh75,000; Extraneous Sh 20,000; Domestic Servants Sh 1,100; Attendance Sh 60,000; Constituency Sh 50,000; and Car Maintenance Sh 366,000.
Curiously, another Sh 500,000,000 is provided in the annual Budget for weekly mileage claims by MPs. Combined with their Transport and Car Maintenance allowances, this would mean that the average MP gets Sh 629,000 per month to run his car.
MPs also received Sh 3.3 million grant to buy a car. During this financial year, the Budget has provided Sh 99 million to buy 30 cars for MPs compared to the Sh 740 million allocated for cars last year.
The Budget also provides Sh 200 million to pay the import duty on these vehicles.
Last year Sh 669 million import duty for cars was paid when new members were inducted.
Parliament has allocated Sh 256 million for foreign trips in this financial year.
"This will be used to cater for the cost of foreign travel, accommodation, daily subsistence allowance and sundry items," states the budget.
Total annual cost of Group Personal and Medical insurance for MPs and their families is Sh 135,000,000. On a monthly basis, this equates to Sh 51,000 per MP.
Parliament has also approved a capital grant of Sh400,000,000 to the Mortgage Fund Capital that helps MPs buy houses. The Fund now has a total capital of Sh 1.4 billion. Last year Sh500,000,000 was contributed to the Fund. This equates to Sh 150,000 monthly per MP.
The Nairobi Star calculation of the monthly remuneration of MPs was based on the annual total of personal benefits divided by the number of members.
The monthly figure of Sh 1,435,846 did not include the cost of constituency offices for which a further Sh 504,000,000 has been allocated over the year. This is broken down into Sh 202 million of staff salaries and Sh 302 million of operating expenses. Divided over 210 constituencies, this represents a further monthly cost of Sh 200,000.
The Parliamentary Service Commission chaired by Speaker Kenneth Marende crafts the budget which is again passed by Parliament. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Deputy Prime Ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta also sit in PSC.
The PSC was established in 1999 through an Act of Parliament.
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Well now, these guys are simply raping the country blind! As if their importance is crusial to the country´s development... Ha! Allow me to laugh. And then they talk about that education i too expensive. Teachers salary. Let me point out that it doesnt take any education at all to become an MP. Just a big mouth, thats all the requirements needed. Thats how much they care about the People of KENYA !
/Z
Oh, yes.
Kenya's MPs are among the highest paid IN THE WORLD.
For what?
Kenya's people have to survive on less than $300 a year compared to those in USA at over $40,000 a year. S why does the income of these MPs compared to that of USA's legislators?
And reports have it that half of Kenya is facing starvation.
And Kenya's unemployment rate is among the highest in Africa - and in the world.
Something to remember next time you see Kenya's Odinga strutting around and rubbishing other leaders of Africa - especially Cde Mugabe. [Incidentally, Odinga represents in Kenya's parliament the largest slum area in Africa - where pestilence breeds in open sewers and a pedestrian here has to dodge human waste thrown out of cardboard shacks in plastic bags. And Odinga wallows in wealth. And his parliament votes for him to loot the people's till more deeply ... So what does Odinga want for Africa? Or does he want a bigger till to loot?]
This is pure robbery. How can one justfy this. $4880 per month for maintaining a new car. $2495 for fuel per week. And now they want to increase foregn travel allowance to $1000 per day. Who will help us get raid of the whole bunch.
If not checked, this could cause a spiral of death to our nation. It may cause a ripple effect to the next generation who may revolt, causing revolution. It's quite apparent this leaders don't care about the street child who is our nations future.