Payment of MPs’ end-of-term packages will be delayed when their term ends next year after the National Treasury retained the budget for Parliament at Sh37.9 billion.
The Treasury capped the current budget for the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) at Sh37.88 billion and that of the Judiciary at Sh17.92 billion.
“To enhance oversight, I propose to allocate Sh37.9 billion to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC),” Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said while reading the 2021/22 budget in Parliament.
Ordinarily, money for their send-off packages is reflected in an expanded budget during the budget for their final year.
The five-year term of the current Parliament expires on August 22, 2022 with the PSC expected to pay MPs their service gratuity or pension.
The Parliamentary Pensions Act stipulates that only those who serve for two terms are entitled to a Sh125,000 monthly pension for the rest of their lives.
For MPs who lose after serving one term, they are refunded the equivalent of three times their monthly pension deductions plus 15 percent interest for every year served.
Each member of the 416-member bicameral Parliament (including the Speakers of the Senate and the National Assembly) is also set to pocket millions of shillings in service gratuity.
Besides their fat salaries, MPs are entitled to a Sh5 million car grant, a Sh20 million mortgage, and a Sh7 million car loan.
The law provides that a member shall be entitled to a pension if his or her aggregate period of service is two terms of Parliament and has attained the age of 45.
Pensions payable shall be based on the member’s pensionable emoluments for the last 12 months (whether continuous or discontinuous) during which he or she served.
The pensionable emoluments to MPs include salary, responsibility allowance, constituency allowance, nominated member’s allowance, ex-officio member’s allowance, and house allowance.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
