IEBC bosses get Sh330 million golden parachute for early exit

The package is expected to include the salaries they will forego for the remainder of their term — which was to end in November 2017 — as well as their gratuity payments.

The commissioners are expected to take home an average Sh36.6 million each, based on the Business Daily’s calculations from the annual national Budget estimates. The exact details of their exit package will be worked out by the parliamentary team that ended its public hearings yesterday.

The commissioners are Issack Hassan (chairman), Lilian Mahiri-Zaja (vice-chairperson), Yusuf Nzibo, Albert Bwire, Kule Galma Godana, Abdullahi Sharawe, Mohamed Alawi Hussun, Muthoni Wangai and Thomas Letangule.

“The country is bigger than any of us and if there will be a political settlement, the commission will not be a stumbling block,” Mr Hassan told the 14-member joint parliamentary committee on electoral reforms.

The offer to leave office comes after months of sustained pressure from the Opposition coalition Cord, which has accused the electoral body of incompetence and being biased.

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The nine IEBC commissioners were sworn into office in November 2011 on a six-year term.

The annual remuneration package for the nine commissioners is Sh132.8 million inclusive of basic salaries and allowances, as per the annual budgetary estimates — though allowances which are ordinarily earned for out-of-office assignments could be docked from the lump sum payout.

For the 11 months remaining in the current financial year, they will earn about Sh121.7 million.

In the five months from July to November 2017 when their contracts were to end, they will be entitled to another Sh55.3 million.

The commissioners are also entitled to a payout of about Sh152.5 million as gratuity for their six-year contract based on a March 1, 2013 Kenya Gazette notice by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

“A State Officer serving on fixed term shall serve on contract and be paid a service gratuity at the end of the term at the rate of 31 per cent of annual basic pay for every year served,” the SRC notice said.

The State is expected to recruit new commissioners at the rates set by the SRC once the Hassan-led team vacates office, meaning that taxpayers will have effectively paid double for the same positions.

The Treasury last week hinted that it was ready to pay the commissioners to leave office from the Sh5 billion Contingency Fund that is available for unforeseen expenditure to meet the cost of their exit.

“If the exit of commissioners from office occurs, we will treat it as an unforeseen expenditure and pay them from the fund,” Treasury secretary Henry Rotich told the parliamentary committee.

The commissioners’ resolve to stay in office was seen to crack in June when four of them wrote to State House offering to resign if they were paid their salaries for the remaining period of their term.

The send-off package adds to the heavy cost that taxpayers is paying to maintain or retire constitutional commissions and independent offices.

Members of the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) in December left office with an average Sh35 million golden parachute each after their term of service came to an end.

The average monthly pay of top National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) was nearly doubled to more than Sh1 million in the current fiscal year that began July.

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo’s pay was also bumped 44 per cent over the next two years to above Sh2 million per month, putting her package near that of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Members of the various commissions have been criticised for drawing hefty salaries, usually above Sh1 million, which puts them in a small elite group of super earners in a country where the majority of formal sector workers earn less than Sh50,000 a month.

The exit of the commissioners now shifts attention to changes to the electoral laws and the implication on the election date which is set for August 8 next year.

“Now what is remaining is the appropriate legal framework to actualise the offer. We also have one week to prepare a Bill capturing the proposed legal reforms on the IEBC and elections,” Kipchumba Murkomen, the Elgeyo Marakwet Senator who is a member of the committee, wrote on his Facebook wall.

Attorney-General Githu Muigai told the parliamentary committee that a Bill changing the election date does not need to be taken through a referendum, meaning that a two-thirds majority in Parliament will be sufficient.