House runs out of cash to fund MPs’ perks, foreign trips

Parliament has run out of funds to finance foreign and local travel for MPs in a cash crunch that saw the legislators take a17-fold cut on their spending on trips abroad in the six months to December, saving taxpayers Sh294 million.  

The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has raised the alarm over a Sh1.4 billion budget hole that has mostly affected domestic and foreign travel as well as perks paid for committee sessions.

“The PSC is seeking intervention of the Liaison Committee for approval to reallocate Sh1.1 billion from Parliament development vote to recurrent vote to fund a shortfall in critical items including committee operations,” said PSC in a plea to the House team reviewing and approving the mini-budget tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The crunch look set to reduce committee sessions that have in recent years emerged as a money minting machines for the MPs.

The cap on a number of times parliamentary committees could meet was removed in June 2013 following a pay deal struck by Deputy President William Ruto that saw MPs take a pay cut, but only in exchange for a tax-free car grant, pensions and extra allowances like mileage claims.

Lawmakers get allowances for attending sessions as well as mileage allowance that have the effect of doubling their pay above Sh1 million monthly.

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The Controller of Budget report shows that MPs’ total pay shrunk to Sh3.9 billion in the six months to December from Sh5.1 billion. This drop is attributed to perks that change depending on the MPs activities.

The report shows that MPs spent only Sh18.3 million on travelling between last July and December, down from Sh313 million in a similar period a year earlier.

The report did not indicate the reason for the cutback on travel expenditure. But MPs domestic travel remained unchanged in the review period at Sh1 billion.

The 349 MPs have in the past pushed for higher pay and perks, making them among the best paid lawmakers in the world.

This huge cash appetite has portrayed them as greedy in a country struggling with biting unemployment and poverty.

Travel is one of the perks that the MPs enjoy with some of them drawing in excess of Sh1 million in monthly mileage allowances, depending on the location of their constituency.

The drop in the travel spend comes as the Treasury moves to implement austerity policy in public offices to free up cash for development and provision of basic services such as security, health and education.

Foreign travel by senior government officials has recently sparked uproar among Kenyans who feel the expenses have not resulted in corresponding socio-economic benefits.

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich last November announced new austerity measures, involving deep cuts on non-essential budget items like travel, motor vehicle maintenance and conferencing.

This is expected to save taxpayers of billions of shilling and ease pressure on public coffers amid revenue shortfalls.