FILE | NATION MPs in Parliament. Taxpayers could be asked to pay MPs Sh2.1 billion should next year’s General Election be held in August as stated in the new Constitution.
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, March 19 2011 at 22:00
Posted Saturday, March 19 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
- Each member could take home eight months’ pay and winding up allowance totalling Sh9.5 million. But the date is contested.
- Legislators are quietly lobbying for the hefty pay package, arguing that their contracts will have been cut short by up to eight months
Kenyan taxpayers could be asked to pay MPs Sh2.1 billion should next year’s General Election be held in August as stated in the new Constitution.
The MPs are quietly lobbying for the hefty pay package because they say that their contracts will have been cut short before the completion of their five-year term.
But any such payoff is likely to be met with outrage from wananchi in a country facing multiple economic challenges, including the ever-rising cost of living.
The proposed amount is the total salary for the eight months to the expiry of the MPs’ five-year term after Parliament is dissolved. The new Constitution provides in the transitional clauses that Parliament should serve its full term which, by some calculations, ends on January 15, 2013, exactly five years after MPs were sworn in.
If next year’s elections are held in the second week of August as pronounced in the new Constitution, the life of the 10th Parliament will come to an end some time in May 2012 to allow the electoral commission three months to prepare for elections.
PNU vice-chairman George Nyamweya said the country must decide how to manage the transition from the 10th to the 11th parliament.
He said MPs would be deprived of expected income. He likened the situation to giving someone a contract and terminating it without pay before the term ends.
“This is a question that we have got to face as a country. Someone could go to court and say that the contract agreement has not been respected. But then again one may argue that you did the same to the Electoral Commission of Kenya by ending their contracts before their term was over,” said Mr Nyamweya.
Many MPs who spoke on the need for compensation demanded anonymity in possible anticipation of public backlash.
Sports assistant minister Kabando wa Kabando said compensation was “an option due to the transition clauses”. He proposed a solution which would see MPs extend the handover period from the 10th to the 11th Parliament to December 2012.
“If elections are held in August, then transition or handover should be in December when the life of the current Parliament expires and the 11th Parliament reports in January 2013. Instead of compensating MPs materially, they can instead compensate the country for lost time by completing legislation in the four months ‘bridge time’,” said Mr Kabando.
If each MP is paid Sh1 million for each of the eight months they will surrender in case elections are held next August, taxpayers will cough up Sh8 million a member.
In addition, the MPs are entitled to Sh1.5 million in winding up allowance, a sort of retirement package MPs voted for themselves. That takes the bill up to Sh9.5 million for every MP.
This figure is likely to prove unpopular with wananchi who have long expressed anger with the fact that MPs do not pay tax and receive salaries and allowances that are higher than their counterparts in many developed countries.
Lawyer Paul Muite said that although MPs do not deserve any compensation since they do not have a fixed term, he would not oppose it as long as elections are held in August. He challenged MPs to ensure that judges who do not go through the vetting process are also paid.
“If elections are not held in August 2012, then when will they ever be held in August? There has to be one parliament that does not run its full term and it is this parliament as it is the one that has enacted a new Constitution,” said Mr Muite.
The date of the next election has created a heated debate in the country as different interpretations on the law are floated.
Constitution Implementation Commission chairman Charles Nyachae says the poll will be held on the second Tuesday of August.
Parliament would, therefore, be dissolved in May 2012, paving the way for elections on August 14, 2012.
“In our plain reading of Article 101 of the Constitution, the first General Election under the Constitution will be held on the first Tuesday of August of the fifth year, namely 2012,” said Mr Nyachae on Thursday.
The position is not one that enjoys support in some quarters in Parliament. In November last year, MPs asked Speaker Kenneth Marende to rule on when the elections will be held but the Speaker said he could rule on when the term of Parliament ends but not on the date of the next elections.
On Friday, PNU secretary- general Kiraitu Murungi said the date on which the next General Election will be held is clearly stated in the Constitution.
“If we don’t hold the elections in the second week of August as expected, then it will be impossible to implement the Constitution as written and, to amend this Constitution, you need another referendum,” Mr Murungi said.
But Nairobi Metropolitan minister Njeru Githae differed with CIC and his party PNU, saying the transition clause saves the current Parliament from leaving office before it serves its five-year term.
His argument is based on provisions in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution on the transition and consequential clauses. Article 9 of the Sixth Schedule says that the next elections are to be held “within sixty days after the dissolution of the National Assembly at the end of its term.”
Article 10 states: “The National Assembly existing immediately before the effective date shall continue as the National Assembly for the purposes of this Constitution for its unexpired term.”
The MPs argue that their five- year term started on January 15, 2008, and therefore they should be allowed to serve until January 15, 2013.
The Constitution, however, gives Parliament powers to extend its life especially on matters related to the implementation of the new law.
However, since the Constitution says that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections have to be held on the same day, the polls may have to be held before December 30, 2012. This is the date when President Kibaki was sworn in for his second and last term.
Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo says that according to Section 262 of the new Constitution, the August election date only kicks in after the current parliamentary term ends.
But even as some of the MPs opposed the August poll date, they were not clear on when the next polls will be held, with some of them saying December 2012 while others insisted it will have to be “some time in March 2013”.
According to Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo, those who are keen to know the date of the next elections should define “unexpired term” from the date of the swearing in of the 10th Parliament.
“Then tell Kenyans how that can be interrupted if the President or anyone else cannot prorogue or dissolve Parliament,” said Mr Kilonzo.
But Mr Kilonzo is opposed to compensation saying: “The calendar of Parliament is no longer an issue for individuals to manipulate or benefit from.”
Mr Abdikadir Mohammed, the chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee, said it “wouldn’t make sense” to have the elections in August 2012, because that will “shorten” the implementation period. He cited the “unexpired term” tag to say that the election date has to be in December 2012.
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