Raila Odinga and others were pro new constitution, promised and solely convinced Kenyans that this Katiba is the new deal and the best for Kenya. Right now they, together with Uhuru Kenyatta want to change it again through their handshake and fix in closes and articles that will keep them floating on Taxpayers in the name of Politicians!
Disgusting piece of duo to say the least. And MCA have now borrowed a leaf from the so-called dynasties and have placed County under a heavy burden to keep hyena stomachs satisfied as their average monthly pay bulge past Ksh 500,000 mark.
Almost after every 3 months, MPs increase their salaries and now MCA are on the same spree as they have seen their average salaries, benefits and allowances increased every now and then while the taxpayer is being pushed to the limit for more taxes.
According to report from the Controller of Budget and seen by Kenyan Bulletin, MCAs’ average salary, allowances and benefits increased with 21 per cent, from sh 451,827 to Sh547,146 in the year that ended on June.
Kenya has a total of 2,243 Ward representatives in the 47 counties. Each month, taxpayers cough out Sh1,227,248,478 Billion which translates to approximately a whopping Sh14,726,981,736 Billion each year.
From records seen by Kenyan Bulletin, Narok ward representatives received the highest benefits with each MCA costing the county an average of Sh765,635 a month, up from Sh328,757 a year earlier.
Taita Taveta MCAs that impeached their Governor Granton Samboja pocket a whopping Sh722,299 salary while Mutua led Machakos county ward reps receive Sh719,867.
The stated figures cover MCAs’ monthly salary, mileage allowance, airtime perks, per diems and expenses linked to their local and foreign travel.
Wangamati led Bungoma MCAs are the least paid with an average benefit of Sh270,005 a month which is almost three times less that of Narok ward representatives.
Funny enough, Joho led Mombasa ward representatives to receive Sh289,058 and chaotic Nairobi MCAs pocket Sh337,567.
Drought striken and poverty torn Nanok led Turkana ward reps receive Sh 609, 159 monthly salaries and stipends. Turkana’s should be the angriest Kenyans right now. This is an insult to humanity.
‘Travelling should be rationalised in order to free funds for implementation of key development programmes,” Budget comptroller said.
The 21 per cent increase in MCA benefits came after the High Court scrapped the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s (SRC) cut on State officers’ benefits.
MCAs are entitled to a monthly salary of Sh165,000, Sh5,000 for airtime, sitting allowance of Sh5,000 per session, monthly mileage allowance of Sh39,800 for intra county travel, as well as per diems for local and foreign trips.
The SRC had in July 2017 cut the monthly pay of MCAs to Sh144,375, abolished the monthly mileage and sitting allowances and lowered per diem rates, attracting revolts from the MCAs.
However, the High Court last year reinstated the benefits. While reinstating the perks, Justice George Odunga found that the SRC had failed to study the labour market and conduct a compressive job evaluation one year before the pay review as the law demands.
In the period under review, sitting allowance paid to the 2,243 MCAs increased by 52.4 per cent or by Sh760 million from the Sh1.4 billion spent the previous year. Spending on domestic travel or reimbursement of MCAs’ mileage claims rose by 28 per cent to Sh5.2 billion in the year to June.
Foreign travel, which MCAs call benchmarking trips, rose by a staggering 76.4 per cent to Sh1.2 billion from the Sh682 million that the ward reps had spent on foreign trips in the year to June 2018.
Isiolo, Taita Taveta, Lamu and the Kenyan voting bots-Tharaka-Nithi are among counties that offered juicy benefits to MCAs. I have to note that these are counties that generated the least wealth to the country.
Take for instance Isiolo that had 0.2 per cent share of GDP yet it paid a benefit of Sh651,894 monthly on average to its MCAs.
Issa Timami’s Lamu county was ranked fifth on the benefits scale although it was number 45 out of 47 on its contribution to Kenya’s GDP.
Last month, Ukurr Yatani, the acting Treasury CS announced austerity measures that included a reduction in foreign trips, local travel and out of town meetings fashioned as pieces of training. This directive seems to have fallen on deaf ears and only remains active in the mouth of the acting CS.
This is why Kenya is a borrowing country and sooner or later, Kenyans will understand that the most so-called learned members of the governments are only heading this country to dead-end with public debts and all our revenue will soon be placed under foreign receivership. The country is being leased.
