Parliament staff pay up 26 percent on suspension of SRC cuts

Parliament staff salaries rose by Sh251 million in the three months to September highlighting the burden taxpayers continue to bear to keep the legislators happy.

Data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) shows the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) spent Sh1.12 billion during the period compared to the Sh877 million in a similar period a year earlier.

The 28.6 percent increase could be attributed to the hiring of new staff including orderlies and clerks, employee promotions, retirements as well as the adoption of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) graduated salaries structure.

The lawmakers successfully pushed for the suspension of the 2017 pay cuts by the SRC, adding to the heavy burden that public and State officers have placed on tax revenues.

The MPs pay cuts along with salaries of other top officials, including the President and Cabinet secretaries, were meant to save the Treasury Sh8.5 billion annually in an economy where public sector wages consume half of the taxes.

The CoB data shows the PSC personnel emoluments budget for the first quarter almost tripled the Sh392 million spent in the three months to September 2018.

This is the period when there were no legislators for the PSC to pay because the country had gone through a General Election. In the three months to September 2017, the PSC spent Sh912 million on personnel emoluments. The huge figure is linked to the paying of gratuity to former one-term MPs.

The total spend by PSC on salaries in the first quarter of this year stood at Sh98.8 million, an increase from last year’s Sh88.6 million.