A section of MPs follow proceedings in the National Assembly chamber. The lawmakers have allocated Sh2.2 billion for their workers’ salary increase. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The allocation means legislators will have Sh539,000 per month to pay their workers.
The MPs have been pushing for their personal drivers to be included in the scheme, granting them an allowance and salaries.
Parliament has increased the pay allocation for workers attached to MPs by nearly a billion shillings for the coming financial year, offering room for the lawmakers to hire more staff.
Budget estimates presented to Parliament show that the money for temporary workers in constituency offices will be increased to Sh2.26 billion from the current Sh1.3 billion.
The additional cash will allow MPs to hire more staff and raise the salaries of support staff attached to them.
The pay allocation for staff allocated to senators increased to Sh513.6 million from Sh490 million, representing a 4.6 per cent rise.
Salaries of staff employed by MPs are met by taxpayers through a constituency staffing scheme mooted in 2005, adding to their comfort given their position among the best paid legislators in Africa.
The scheme provides for taxpayers to pay salaries of personal assistants, office managers, secretaries and assistants as well as allowances for police officers attached to legislators.
It capped the wage bill of elected MPs’ staff at Sh195,000 per month and Sh97,500 for nominated members – putting the total wage bill at Sh792 million for the 349 MPs.
This means that the cap was quietly reviewed now that MPs on average have Sh539,000 per month for their staff pay. The legislators have been pushing for their personal drivers to be included in the scheme, granting them an allowance and salaries.
This would put them at the same level as security officers attached to MPs who earn a minimum monthly stipend of Sh19,000 besides their pay.
The Parliamentary Service Commission also increased the allocation for running Parliament’s constituency offices from Sh975 million to Sh2.1 billion with senators being the biggest beneficiaries.
Senators’ allocation increased to Sh1.18 billion from Sh105 million while for MPs it rose to Sh1 billion from Sh870 million.
MPs are entitled to a tax-free car grant, mileage allowances, pension and unlimited committee sessions.
Though each of the 416 members of the National Assembly and the Senate earns a basic monthly salary of slightly above Sh550,500, the allowances push their monthly take-home to more than Sh1 million.
Politicians argue that they deserve the high compensation because constituents expect them to provide charitable support.
The increase in the wage bill of MPs’ staff comes as the government mulls over job cuts and reduction of allowances paid to civil servants to check the ballooning wage bill.
The wage bill stood at Sh596.8 billion last financial year having risen from Sh534 billion in the previous year and Sh402 billion in 2010.
The rapid rise in salaries paid to civil servants, backed by hefty perks, has pushed the wage of government workers ahead of the private sector.
Public servants had an average monthly wage of Sh49,739 last year while that of workers in the private sector stood at Sh44,806.
State think-tank Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis said that allowances paid to civil servants had made the government the preferred employer and called for a radical review.
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