Nairobi — The National Assembly has denied widely circulated reports that lawmakers have been pocketing allowances meant for their drivers and bodyguards.
In a statement, National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge termed the accusations as false, inaccurate and sensational saying there were a clear misinterpretation of facts.
Njoroge explained that since the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024,the Parliamentary Service Commission budget has been affected with expenditures on allowances for constituency offices reduced.
"The allowances are therefore not available as alleged in the misguided newspaper article...there is, therefore, no possibility for a Member of Parliament to appropriate an allowance that does not exist," Njoroge stated.
An article by Daily Nation indicated that Speaker Moses Wetangula, during a National Assembly's leadership retreat in Nakuru had issued a stern warning from pocketing night-out allowances for their drivers and security teams.
Njoroge expressed that with budgetary issues facing the parliamentary commission the budget for bodyguards and drivers were removed hence the reports are misleading.
Further, he defended that no formal complaints on denial or misappropriation of the allowances have been made by the bodyguards and drivers to the attention of the PSC.
"The items affected by the reduction included foreign and domestic travel, purchase of equipment, hospitality and the allocation for constituency offices, which includes the said allowances for bodyguards and drivers attached to MPs," the National Assembly Clerk said.
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The night allowance for each bodyguard and driver assigned to an MP is a flat rate of Sh4,200 as per the Parliamentary Service Commission policy.
This allowance is facilitated when MPs travel to their constituencies or attend official parliamentary functions over the weekend.
According to the article on Daily Nation, Speaker Moses Wetangula had warned lawmakers against misappropriating the funds pointing out the dire consequences of the action.
"You can imagine if your bodyguard calls you a thief and says you stole his money for all the five years," Wetang'ula said.
"From what I have found out, a majority of the MPs do not want to touch that money, and I will advise you not to for the simple reason that it will create problems for you down the line," he added.
