New employees of Parliament have increased their uptake of car loans from the taxpayer-funded scheme after more than 90 percent of MPs shunned it in favour of car grants.
Disclosures show that only 32 MPs took the loans from the Parliamentary Car Loan Scheme between their election in 2022 and June last year, extending a trend of massive migration to the car grants that started in the 2017-2022 parliament.
The fall in number of MPs borrowing the loans comes as Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) staff increased their borrowing from the facility, taking the lead as the biggest borrowers.
Car loans issued to the PSC staff grew from Sh82.3 million in the year ending June 2024 to Sh147.9 million in the 2024/25 fiscal year, disclosures from the scheme’s management show.
“During the period under review, the Fund was able to process and pay four loans to the lawmakers of the 13th Parliament and 55 loans to the parliamentary staff valued at Sh22,470,000 and Sh147,961,250 respectively,” the scheme’s administrator, Samuel Njoroge said.
While the car loans issued to MPs during the year fell from Sh29.2 million, those issued to PSC staff increased by 79 percent. With MPs taking a back seat, the scheme’s management notes that new PSC recruits have expressed an appetite for the facility, borrowing a cumulative Sh227.4 million by June last year.
“Majority of the newly recruited staff have since taken a keen interest in accessing the loans. Loan uptake by staffers is relatively higher compared to that of the honourable members during the current period,” the management says.
Mr Njoroge, who is also the clerk of the National Assembly, said that in the 2024/25 fiscal year, 55 staff of the PSC borrowed the loans up from 33 staff who borrowed the previous year, reflecting a shift of the scheme’s core activities from lending to MPs to PSC staff.
The car loan scheme exists to facilitate acquisition of vehicles for MPs, senators and PSC staff, by providing loans for the purchase, insurance and overhaul of motor vehicles. By the end of June 2025, the scheme was owed Sh302.55 million, including Sh75.1 million by the MPS and senators, and Sh227.4 million by PSC staff.
The loans owed by MPs and senators fell from Sh92.35 million in June 2024, but those owed by PSC staff grew from Sh187.65 million over the same period.
“The loans uptake by the honourable members remained relatively low compared to that of the staff members,” the scheme’s management said.
With barely two years until the 2027 election, the number of MPs taking car loans represented a drop by nearly three quarters, compared to the 115 MPs who took the loans during the last parliament, documents on the Parliamentary Car Loan Scheme Fund administration show.
The Scheme observes that MPs started ditching the loans in the last Parliament, noting that while it planned to issue at least 315 MPs with the facilities, only the 115 borrowed.
“The Fund was hopeful of achieving at least 75 percent loan uptake. However, this wasn't achieved since the majority did not apply for the Car Loans,” the management says.
The management cites the facilitation of car grants for the MPs by Parliament at the beginning of the last term in 2017 for the low uptake of car loans, noting that the current crop of MPs have shunned the loans even more.
“As such, the fund achieved less than 30 percent uptake of car loans by the honourable members of the 12th Parliament, being 115 loans. The uptake is even lower in the current term since only 32 Honourable Members of the 13th Parliament have so far taken car loans,” it says.
Some 420 persons are entitled to the car loans facility, including 350 members of the National Assembly, 68 senators and two non-elected PSC members. The loans are also available to staff of the PSC, with limits ranging from Sh8 million for the Speakers, Sh7 million for the MPs, to Sh2.5 million for the lowest cadre of staff at the PSC.
Following the shift by MPs to take car grants while shunning the car loans, the government has since taken back Sh1.3 billion from the scheme’s seed capital and moved it to the Parliamentary Mortgage Fund, its management says.
This has seen interest earned from its investment in fixed deposits drop from Sh112.68 million in the year ending June 2024, to Sh34.74 million the following year.
Interest from loan repayments, however, increased marginally during the year under review to hit Sh8.6 million, attributed to an increase in loan intake among PSC staff.
The scheme’s management says it plans to invest more of its cash in fixed short-term deposits as more MPs shun it for the car grants to avoid staying with idle cash.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had removed the car grant for MPs alongside other allowances in July 2022, but MPs pushed for its reinstatement after they were elected.
