Thursday, June 20, 2013

MPs IN NEW SCHEME TO STOP SEREM DECIDING PAY

Thursday, June 20, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY FRANCIS MUREITHI
MPs have initiated a new move to permanently stop the Salaries and Remuneration Commission from controlling their salaries.  
The MPs have agreed to introduce a fresh Bill to the House to amend Article 260 of the Constitution and remove MPs from the list of State Officers. The SRC, chaired by Sarah Serem, is mandated to set the salaries of all state officers.
If the MPs succeed, the SRC will no longer have the power to decide the salary and allowances of MPs because they will not be classified as state officers.
Deciding parliamentary pay scales will then become the sole preserve of the Parliamentary Service Commission which is comprised of MPs under the chairmanship of Speaker Justin Muturi.
Judges, magistrates and members of County Assemblies will also be exempted from being state officers. It appears that the MPs intend that the President, Deputy President and Cabinet Secretaries remain as state officers as per Article 260. The SRC holds a constitutional mandate to determine the salaries and allowances of all State officers.
The Justice and Legal Affairs Committee is already handling the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill 2013 which was drafted by a Justice subcommittee.
“The amendment is meant to entrench the doctrine of separation of powers between the three arms of government as envisaged in the constitution,” said the committee in a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
The Justice committee has told MPs that the amendment will be by 'Parliamentary initiative' under Article 256 of the Constitution and will not require a referendum.
“The amendment can be introduced in either Houses of Parliament and must be passed in both Houses by at least two thirds of all members of that House in second and third readings,” the Justice committee said.
MPs have a track record of unilaterally increasing their salaries and allowances with no other organ in the country capable of controlling the increases.
The new constitution tried to tame the MP by handing the mandate for their salaries to the SRC, an obstacle that the MPs now want to remove.
The MPs have agreed that the Justice committee bill will be published under the name of its chairperson Samuel Chepkong’a (Ainabkoi).
The salaries of judges and magistrates will be determined by the Judicial Service Commission while the remuneration of County Representatives will be determined by the County Assembly Service board.
Article 230 (4) (a) of the Constitution provides that the SRC shall “set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all State officers.”
Article 260 provides that State Officers include the President, Deputy President, Cabinet Secretary, MPs, Judges and Magistrates as well as Members of the County Assemblies.
“The clause proposed for amendment under Article 260 are Clause (d) Member of Parliament, Clause (e) Judges and Magistrates, Clause (h) Member of a County Assembly,” the Justice committee has said in its report.
MPs clashed heavily with the SRC after chairperson Sarah Serem announced in April that their monthly pay would be cut from Sh851,000 in the last Parliament to Sh532,500, which is taxable at 30 per cent.  
In May, an angry National Assembly passed a motion to revoke the gazette notices issued by SRC. This prompted the Law Society of Kenya to go to court to challenge the decision by Parliament. The High Court temporarily blocked the enhanced salary pending the hearing of the case.
However MPs resorted to further negotiations with SRC. On May 31, they made a deal where they accepted the Sh532,600 monthly pay but earn at least Sh1 million per month through unlimited committee sittings and mileage allowance for their vehicles.This has been described as a 'pay increase through the back door'.
- See more at: http://the-star.co.ke/news/article-124963/mps-new-scheme-stop-serem-deciding-pay#sthash.vhRNv6Es.dpuf

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