Thursday, June 20, 2013

MPs plot to change law in fight for higher pay

PHOTO | FILE Members of the National Assembly during the opening of the 11th Parliament in April.
MPs are plotting to change the Constitution in a bid to secure power to determine their own pay.
If the Bill is passed, MPs salaries will no longer be determined by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission. It also seeks to allow MPs to hold positions in political parties.
The Bill would exempt them from the provisions of the Public Officers Ethics Act, which requires such officers to file wealth declaration forms and prohibits them from taking part in harambees.
They intend to achieve this through the Bill being prepared by the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to amend Article 260 of the Constitution, which classifies them as “State Officers”.
The plan is to remove MPs, judges, magistrates and members of county assemblies from the list of State Officers.
Through the final touches
“The amendment is meant to entrench the doctrine of separation of powers between the three arms of government as envisaged in the Constitution,” say the committee’s minutes taken at a June 11 meeting where the matter was discussed.
Ruaraka MP T.J. Kajwang’ heads the five-member committee that was tasked with preparing the Bill. The members are Paul Bii (Chepalungu, URP), Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town, ODM), Fatuma Ibrahim (Wajir County, ODM) and Florence Kajuju (Meru County, TNA).
“The Bill is ready and we’re just going through the final touches. We expect it to be published any time but tomorrow is the tentative date,” Mr Kajwang’ told journalists at Parliament Buildings on Wednesday.
He said the proposed amendment to the Constitution would probably be introduced in the National Assembly next week. He said the Constitution has several contradictions between Chapters 8, 10 and 11, which state clearly the role of State Officers, and Article 260, which his team wants to change. Because they are elected, he said, MPs and county assembly members cannot possibly be State Officers.
The fact that judges and magistrates are categorised as State Officers also undermines their independence.
In the minutes, Mr Kajwang’ is reported to have told his colleagues that because the amendment is by parliamentary initiative, it would not require a referendum.
“The amendment can be introduced in either House 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 minutes state.
The term “MPs” includes Senators and members of the National Assembly since the 11th Parliament has two Houses.
The team is also reported to have been informed that the objectives of the Bill were not unique because precedents have been set in countries like the Philippines.
MPs are yet to be receive their salaries since Parliament began its sittings.
The whittling down of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s mandate was one of the tools fashioned by the MPs in their push for higher pay.
Public service boards
If the Bill is published and passed, it will mean that the determination of pay for those serving under the Parliamentary and the Judicial Service commissions would be removed from the SRC.
It is not clear how the salaries of the members of the county assembly will be determined, but the counties are also expected to set up their own public service boards to handle salaries and wages.
SRC’s mandate is to “set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all State Officers and advise the national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers.”
Last week, the Parliamentary Service Commission and SRC were reported to have agreed on MPs’ salaries.
SRC had said in the Kenya Gazette published on March 1 that MPs should earn Sh532,500 as gross monthly pay, a maximum of Sh160,000 sitting allowances for committee chairmen, Sh128,000 for vice chairmen and Sh80,000 for members.
They would also earn accommodation and subsistence allowances, security, refunds for mileage besides a medical scheme and insurance among others.
The Nation has learnt that the 416 MPs will get an extra monthly car maintenance allowance of Sh395,000, which pushes their net monthly pay to about Sh880,000.
Although they are yet to be paid, the MPs have started filling forms to claim Sh5 million grant they were awarded under the new deal. This was an increase from Sh3.3 million their predecessors got.

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