Monday, July 5, 2010

No money for MPs huge pay insists finance minister

Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has maintained that Treasury has no money to accommodate the new proposed pay for Members of Parliament.

Last week MPs adopted the Akiwumi report in a record 45 minutes, awarding themselves hefty pay increases before they could agree to pay tax.

Currently Members of Parliament pay tax only on their salaries but not on their numerous allowances, a situation that has been vehemently opposed by Kenyans who pay tax on their gross salaries including allowances.

Uhuru on Monday termed the move by the MPs unrealistic and unsustainable by the government.

There have been fears that Uhuru's stance may lead to MPs shooting down the finance bill which is to be presented in parliament this week seeking to have parliament approve expenditure of his ambitious one trillion budget which has no allocation for the pay hike.

Uhuru who was speaking during the signing of credit agreements between the Government of Kenya, the World Bank and the French government said he expects a grand battle in parliament over the matter.

However, he said the legislators must just understand that there are no funds to cater for the huge pay increments.

"I am totally against the idea of MPs increasing their salaries because this is sending wrong signals to the people of this country," he said.

If implemented the move would see an ordinary MP pocket Ksh 1.2 million per month up from the current Ksh 851,000, making Kenyan MPs some of the highest paid legislators in the world.

But the move has attracted harsh criticism from members of the public and civil organizations as well as political leadership including Prime Minister Raila Odinga who on Sunday said the Akiwumi Commission had failed to discharge its mandate as expected.

"The recommendations of the Akiwumi Commission were not meant for this parliament but the future," he said.

The report by the tribunal chaired by retired judge Akilano Akiwumi on the review of the salaries and terms of MPs recommends that the new salaries and allowances be backdated to May 2008, the time when the Prime Minister and the two Deputy Premiers were appointed under the grand coalition government.

President Kibaki is on Tuesday expected to chair a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the matter.

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