Bill tripling pension for MPs' pension returns to new Parliament
The National Assembly has opened public participation for two bills which form part of the conditions attached to the Sh139 billion soft loan secured from the World Bank. FILE PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG
A bill that will triple the pension for lawmakers who served between 1984 and 2001 to Sh100,000 is among the 46 Bills that have been cleared for speedy reintroduction in the new Parliament.
This is after speaker Moses Wetangula ruled that the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to increase the pension from the current Sh33,000 per month, can be reintroduced in the 13th Parliament.
The Bill was published in June, two years after former President Uhuru Kenyatta shot down a similar proposal.
The former President rejected a similar Bill in September 2020, saying it would add a Sh444 million annual tax burden on taxpayers.
The Bill says that the proposed changes to the Parliamentary Pensions Act, 2002 will lift the fortunes of more than 375 former MPs. The current law that governs pension for MPs stipulates that only lawmakers who serve for two terms or more are entitled to a monthly pension of at least Sh125,000 for the rest of their lives.
The proposed law is among 29 other Bills that did not go beyond the Second Reading, but may be re-introduced by the same or any other MP, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 114.
Mr Wetangula approved the reintroduction of 12 Bills that were passed by the House in the last Parliament but lapsed in the Senate.
He also allowed the re-introduction of five Bills which had gone beyond the second reading and 29 Bills that did not go beyond the Second Reading.
Other Bills that will be reintroduced by the MPs sponsored in the 12th Parliament or new MPs include the Public Debt Management Authority Bill and the Alcoholic Drinks Control (Amendment) Bill 2020 by Wundanyi MP Danson Mwakuwona.
