Economy

Polygamous MPs seek medical cover for all their spouses

wanjala

Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Polygamous MPs have petitioned their employer, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to expand the medical cover to cover their spouses and their children.

The MPs demanded to know why the commission had scraped the cover for multiple spouses and children which previous Parliaments enjoyed.

The MPs were however told that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) and not PSC rationalised the cover when it set remuneration and benefits for State officers in the past two Parliaments.

“The matter is not in jurisdiction of PSC but SRC which set the benefits of all State officers. PSC has taken this matter with SRC and the Speaker who chairs PSC is working behind the scenes. In the 11th Parliament five children were covered but it was reduced by the Gazette notice of July, 2017,” said Antony Njoroge, the PSC director for litigation and compliance.

Each of the 349 MPs and 67 Senators are entitled to a Sh10 million annual medical cover.  

READ: Half of Kenya’s medical insurers post 2016 losses

The cover, currently provided by AON Insurance, caters for one spouse and four children who are under the age of 25 years.  

Budalangi MP Raphael Wanjala kicked the storm when he demanded to know why PSC cannot pay for medical care for his two wives and several children as was the practice in the Ninth Parliament.

“I have never seen where an MP is told not to have more than four children in the medical cover,” he said.

“I was in this House and the PSC was covering two wives and all the children.”