Economy

Nyachae team set to wind up with hefty send-off package

CN

Commission on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) chairman Charles Nyachae. PHOTO | FILE

Members of the Charles Nyachae-led Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) look set to receive a hefty send-off package with the expiry of their term tomorrow.

The nine commissioners were allocated Sh315 million as allowances in the six months to December, up from the Sh80.7 million allocated in the full year ended June. This was to cover for the increased meeting the Commission was expected to have ahead of the expiry of their tenure as well as their gratuity or send-off package.

This translates to an average of Sh35 million for each commissioner for their final half-year period in office.

At the time when the budget estimates were released, Mr Nyachae said that he was unaware of the hefty allocation.

“Unless they are talking about gratuity. The commission’s term is coming to an end and the gratuity is set in the commissioners’ contracts,” he said.

Gratuity is an exit financial package given at the end of a contract for workers who do not have pension benefits. It is tied to the amount that one was receiving every year.

Each commissioner is entitled to a gratuity of 30 per cent of their basic pay for every month served.

On average, each commissioner earns Sh700,000 in basic pay, which at 30 per cent translates to a total of Sh113.4 million for the nine commissioners. The payments signal the huge burden taxpayers have shouldered due to the numerous commissions created by the Constitution.

Another Constitutional body, the Transition Authority, is also set to wind up in 2016. The Sh315 million was allocated under the Consolidated Fund services that only caters for the commissioners’ pay. The rest of the commission staff are paid from the budgetary allocation to the CIC.

“The remuneration and benefits payable to or in respect of a commissioner or the holder of an independent office shall be a charge on the Consolidated Fund,” the Constitution says.

This means that any gratuity for the CIC staff would have to be included in the commission’s budget. Mr Nyachae admitted as much, saying commissioners’ salaries are not part of the CIC budget. “That is paid directly pursuant to Article 249 (of the Constitution) from the Consolidated Fund. Everyone else is paid from the CIC budget.”

CIC was formed in January 2011 to manage the transition to the new constitutional dispensation, especially in the crafting of new legislation and aligning old laws with the new Constitution.

Although the Constitution provides that its term may be extended beyond the five years, the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee led by Githunguri MP Njoroge Baiya recommended that the team be disbanded.

MPs did not debate the report before going on the December recess. Senate on the other hand recommended that CIC’s term be extended to allow for the passing of several Bills to give force to the Constitution and which were to be passed within CIC’s five year mandate.

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