Economy

MCAs appeal denial of Sh3.3bn free pay

NYERI

Nyeri County Assembly. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Members of the County Assembly who served in the term that ended last year are taking their demand for Sh3.3 billion as pay for the eight months shaved off their five-year term to the Supreme Court.

The ward representatives say the Court of Appeal misinterpreted the law after it overturned an earlier High Court ruling that compensated them after their term was shortened by eight months following delays in holding the 2013 General Election stand.

MCAs agree with the High Court ruling that said their five-year tenure for MCAs ought to have ended in March 2018 in line with Article 177(4) of the Constitution.

The 11th Parliament and tenure of MCAs had a shorter life span having been elected into office in March 2013 and set to terminate on August 8, 2017.

The Court of Appeal overturned the ruling that the MCAs be paid monthly for eight months after the August 8 and not a lump sum for their shorter term.

“The Supreme Court of Kenya has jurisdiction to hear and determine the question of whether or not the Court of Appeal by way of its judgment, violated the constitutional rights of the first MCAs to be elected under the constitution 2010,” said the MCAs in court papers.

Kenya had 2,526 MCAs in the term that ended before the August 8 poll and each earned a basic monthly salary of Sh165,000, meaning the ward representatives, some who were reelected, will each get Sh1.32 million for eight months.

READ: Relief for County staff as court suspends move to slash pay

This will cost taxpayers Sh3.3 billion. The move is also likely to motivate MPs to push for a similar severance pay that could cost another Sh2.8 billion.

The High Court judge Edward Muriithi had held that the MCAs are entitled to damages for loss of income after their term of office was cut short as elections were held before the expiry of their tenure.

Appellate judges Philip Waki, Roselyne Nambuye and William Ouko in their judgment on November 10, 2017 said the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and “should not be interpreted in a manner that makes it to be in conflict with itself”.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) argued that the High Court had allowed MCAs who were neither elected nor nominated, as provided for in the Constitution, to continue serving for eight months to March 2018.

The appellate judges however stated that public officers do not have the right to a public office, and that ordering that the ward representatives be paid at a time when new MCAs would have been elected into office, would lead to loss of public funds.