Kenyans would recall that soon after the coalition government, consisting of ODM and PNU, was constituted on February 28, 2008, President Kibaki wrote to Speaker Marende proposing Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka as his choice for the powerful post of Leader of Government Business in the House. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Raila Odinga nominated himself as Leader of Government Business setting the stage for an epic battle. With the two sides of the government taking divergent positions in regard to the leadership of this crucial parliamentary committee, business in the House almost came to a screeching halt.
Many Kenyans were at a loss as to what could be done to bring the two warring factions to the negotiating table. Matters were not made any better by the fact that politicians on either side of the coalition had scores to settle and were evidently spoiling for a fight. But to the great relief of many Kenyans Marende came up with a detailed, lucid and well thought out ruling in which he temporarily appointed himself as the chairman of the House Business Committee and afforded the two principals time to thrash out their differences and come to a consensus in regard to the position of Leader of Government Business.
Marende’s Solomonic ruling was hailed as prudent and timely. Then came the unilateral nomination of the Attorney General, Chief Justice and Director of Public Prosecutions by President Kibaki in total disregard of the transitional and consequential provisions of the new constitution which enjoined him to consult the Prime Minister before nominating people to these key positions. When the names of Professor Githu Muigai, Justice Alnashir Visram and lawyer Kioko Kilukumi were sent to Parliament for approval, Speaker Marende rightly ruled that their nomination was a sham and an unwarranted violation of the country’s fundamental law. These splendid rulings and Marende’s disinterested way of conducting business in the House marks him out as a remarkably thoughtful and astute leader. He will go down the annals of history as one of the great minds in the history of the Kenyan Parliament.
Be that as it may, Speaker Marende has of late been advocating for what is clearly indefensible. On Thursday 23rd August Marende gave a speech at Laico Ragency, Nairobi in which he rooted for a pay hike for MPs. Tracing what MPs have been earning all the way from 1956 to date, Marende went to stupendous extents in his quest to convince us that, granted that MPs have an avalanche of responsibilities to shoulder it is only fair that their salaries be adjusted upwards.
With due respect to the Speaker, his proposal smacks of a petrifying level of insensitivity to the plight of millions of Kenyans struggling to eke out a living. By any standards emoluments amounting to Sh851,000 a month are not and cannot be described as measly. The argument that MPs have many roles and therefore deserve a pay rise doesn’t just add up. Kenyans are not ignorant of the fact that through the Constituency Development Fund, millions of shillings are allocated to each constituency. It is these funds that should be utilised in catering for development projects at the constituency level. Indeed in areas where this fund has been put to proper use so much has been done. It is also from this Fund that bursaries for bright needy students should be drawn. One is left wondering which roles the Speaker is talking about.
Picture this. A man is elected as a Member Parliament. Shortly thereafter, motivated by the fact that he is now earning a six figure salary, he acquires three high flying and bewitchingly beautiful mistresses and rents each one of them an apartment in Nairobi’s up market estates such as Kileleshwa at Sh60,000 per month. The monthly shopping bill for each of these mistresses comes to Sh40,000. The new MP thus spends at least Sh100,000 on each of these mistresses bringing his monthly bill, minus what he spends on his genuine family, to Sh300,000. Would you buy the argument that this MP has many responsibilities and thus deserves a pay increase? I wouldn’t. Those doubting whether this is happening should read former Bahari MP Joe Hamisi's book, "The Politics of Betrayal".
In his speech, the Speaker bemourned the fact that some public officers such as the Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority earn more than MPs. In his view, this is unacceptable and is reason enough to adjust the legislators monthly emoluments upwards. What seems to escape the Speaker’s attention is that the Commissioner General of KRA is a highly qualified technocrat playing an extremely critical role and rightly deserves a much better pay. You cannot compare such a technocrat with some MPs who don’t even have a first degree and cannot effectively articulate issues that affect the lives of Kenyans.
To many Kenyans our MPs are an annoyingly rapacious lot whose contribution to public good is miniscule. They have turned a honourable house into a place of settling political scores and shamelessly doing their political masters bid. Whenever matters to do with public good are brought to the floor of the house for debate, they take positions depending on what is politically expedient. But wait until a proposal to increase their pay is made and you'll be astounded by the unity of purpose they display.
Lest the Speaker forgets, there are civil servants in this country who earn as little as Sh8,000. Some of these public servants work in Nairobi and still have to provide for their families, despite the abnormally high standard of living. Between these dedicated public servants and our overly paid MPs, who deserves a pay rise? If this is not the height of injustice, what is? Let us be realistic Mr Speaker sir. We cannot bury our heads in sand and pretend that there's nothing wrong with increasing the salaries of MPs.
This article was published in the Star Newspaper on October 6,2012
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