Saturday, June 15, 2013

Mithika Linturi: I was out to defend Constitution not to seek higher pay

By Jacob Ng’etich
 No Member of Parliament has been perceived to embody the clamour for more pay and received more verbal backlash than Igembe South MP Franklin Mithika Linturi.
And the public venom could not be explained better than a community social media account calling itself the 1 Million Likes to Recall MP Mithika Linturi from Parliament’. This account claimed to stop politicians from fleecing Kenyans. A few days after it was launched it had 23,329 likes.
Early last month, Linturi waded into the murky waters of the pay hike when he called a press conference at Parliament Buildings and scathingly attacked the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Chairperson Sarah Serem over the salary row.
He was reacting to Serem’s warning to the Parliamentary Service Commission that they would be breaking the law if they pay MPs the Sh851,000 and not Sh532,000.
 Drunk on little power
“We are giving a lot of our time to Serem, who in my view is nobody, she is just drunk with very little power conferred to her by the Constitution,” said Linturi.
In a recent interview with The Standard on Sunday, Linturi was quick to clarify he has never called for a pay-hike for the MPs. He faulted the mob condemnation as misplaced.
“At no single time have I pushed for the increment of the salaries and what is being discussed in public is misinformation. If you went through my petition in the Parliamentary website you would confirm this,” said Linturi.
The lawmaker accuses the media of inciting the people against the legislators and particularly himself.
When the motion was tabled, Linturi was the winner, the 11th Parliament voted overwhelmingly to endorse the removal of the chairperson and the commissioners.
According to him, Article 251 was clear that a member of a commission or a holder of an independent office may be removed from office only over serious violation of the Constitution. “Serem’s move usurped the powers of Parliament by purporting to gazette the reviewed salaries using a false procedure. She violated, breached, infringed and threatened the Constitution,” said Linturi.
He, therefore, does not understand the urge by Kenyans to politically lynch him when he was indeed fighting for them on the respect for the Constitution.
Mid-last month Linturi was among the few MPs ridiculed by protesters under the banner ‘Occupy Parliament’.
 Sucking blood
In the demonstration, his name was emblazoned on the back of the pig busy sucking blood at the entrance of the House.
“Most of those who were demonstrating were jealous election losers and were therefore unleashing their vendetta,” he said.
Dismissing the mob condemnation on him, Linturi said he doesn’t care what people say, provided he is on the right.
“There may be a million people with their views, but as a legislator I have the responsibility to protect the law and I will not shy away from acting when one offends the Constitution,” he said.
He added,  “As leaders, we cannot run the country through the public mood. I will not be intimidated by the public, my issue has not been MPs’ extra pay, it is much more than that, it is about the sanctity of the Constitution.”

Few legislators
In 2010, Linturi was among the few legislators who firmly stood against the proposed Constitution. Together with Deputy President William Ruto and a handful of Tenth Parliament MPs under the ‘No’ team, he crisscrossed the country campaigning against the current Constitution.
In one of the meetings during the campaigns for ‘No’ side, Linturi warned his constituents — who are largely miraa farmers — that their plantations would be useless because the plant would be considered an illegal drug with the coming of the new Constitution.
“Article 2(6) of the draft allows automatic domestication of international treaties into Kenyan law without first being subjected to debate in Parliament, and if that is the case miraa business will become illegal under the new Constitution,” Linturi warned.
He said that it is in the same interest that he opposed the increase of the number of constituencies during the 10th Parliament claiming that it would become an extra burden to Kenyans.
 “Before we went to the referendum I stood firm and opposed the plan for a bloated legislature. I had suggested that the number of constituencies be reduced to 180 from 210, and create 47 special seats for women,” he said.

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