Economy

MCA allowances fall by Sh25,000 in three months to September

mcas

Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) during a past devolution conference. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The average pay in sitting allowances for Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) fell by Sh25,199 in the three months to September compared to similar period a year earlier, in the wake of Covid-19 restrictions that disrupted plenary and committee sittings.

The Controller of Budget (CoB) report for the period shows an MCA earned an average of Sh53,957 in the period compared to Sh79,156 in the three months to September last year.

The drop came at a time Covid-19 restrictions that included bans on social gatherings and a directive to work from home disrupted sittings at the county assemblies and denied MCAs the chance to increase their monthly pay.

The restrictions had forced county assemblies to suspend sittings from April and only meetings for critical committees like health and budget that were critical in the allocation of funds to fight the pandemic were allowed to resume following relaxation of the restrictions in July.

“Some budget items recorded low levels of expenditure, which was attributed to the impact of Covid-19 mitigation measures adopted by the government to curb the spread of the disease,” Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o says in the report.

The report shows Homa Bay MCAs were the highest paid at Sh 53,293 per month in the three months followed by their colleagues in Kisumu who got Sh53, 118 in the period.

MCAs in Marsabit and Samburu counties earned the lowest in the period with the pay sitting allowances at Sh2, 167 and Sh1, 436 per month respectively.

Eleven counties did not report any expenditure on sitting allowances in the period at a time most county assemblies and the national assembly had paused most of the sittings.