NASA, Jubilee MPs Unite to Push for Increased Allowances

After the Salaries and Remuneration Committee (SRC) massively slashed their salaries earlier this year, Members of Parliament drawn from both the Opposition and ruling party have put aside differences to push for increased remuneration.

The MPs have kick started the process of changing rules to increase the size of house committees in a bid to accommodate each of the 349 legislators to the committees in order to attract sitting allowances.

National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale said the house will make possible amendments so that the 300 MPs can sit in a departmental and select committee “comfortably.”

Speaker Justin Muturi is said to have already approved the move, even as others view it as a bait to have the opposition agree to be part of appointment committee to vet President Kenyatta's nominees to the cabinet.

An MP belonging to a house committee is entitled to a Sh5,000 sitting allowance for each session, with some MPs sitting in more than one committee. Parliamentary Committees sit up to thrice in a week, translating to more cash in the members' pockets.

SRC cut the MPs monthly income from Sh 710,000 to about 621,000.It further set their sitting allowances at a maximum of Sh80,000 for MPs and Sh128,000 to chairs of committees and abolished mileage reimbursement.