MPs blame commissioners' pay for huge wage bill

A section of the National Assembly. Two MPs have blamed the big number of members and high salaries paid to the 12 constitutional commissions and independent offices for the huge public wage bill and proposed that legislative measures be taken to reduce commissioners to three. File 

By EDWIN MUTAI

Two MPs have blamed the big number of members and high salaries paid to the 12 constitutional commissions and independent offices for the huge public wage bill and proposed that legislative measures be taken to reduce commissioners to three.

Engineer Nicholas Gumbo (Rarieda) accused the Commissions of waging war against Parliament over MPs agitation for increased pay that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) cut from Sh851,000 to Sh542,500.

“The war has been waged against Parliament by Commissions that we created in the House. The House is not responsible for the spilling over of the wage bill because we have earned the same salary (Sh851,000) for the last ten years and that is what we want to be maintained,” said Mr Gumbo while making his contributions to the Presidential Speech during its last day Wednesday.

Mr Gumbo said the country has more commissioners than Senators earning huge salaries, driving expensive cars and guarded by security officers yet the work they do is less

.

“Does setting and review of salaries need to be on permanent basis or part time? Does conducting a General Election once every five years require one to be on employment on permanent basis?” Engineer Gumbo posed.

The Rarieda MP who is serving a second five year term in Parliament said there is urgent need for Parliament to amend the law to ensure that the number of commissioners in the 10 constitutional bodies is reduced from nine to at least three.

The ten Constitutional Commissions are the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality, National Land Commission, Independent Electoral and Boundaries, Public Service, Parliamentary Service, Judicial Service, Teachers Service, National Police Service, Commission on Revenue Allocation and SRC. Independent offices are Auditor General and Controller of Budget.

“In India, with a population of 1.27 billion, it has three commissioners who manage election while in Kenya we have nine commissioners who are overpaid and under worked,” he said.

Dagoreti North MP Simba Arati said there is need to disband the IEBC for the manner in which it handled the March 4 General Election.

Engineer Gumbo said there is need to reduce and put all Constitutional Commissions, including the Charles Nyachae led Commission for Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) on part time employment basis.

“A part from Nyachae, nobody knows the other eight commissioners. CIC is like a one man show,” he said.

“This Constitutional Commissioners sit pretty with less work and more pay. They wear designer suits, have bodyguards and drive top of the range cars on taxpayers cost. We don’t need commissioners to operate on permanent basis. We need to reduce their number and put their terms on part time basis,” he said.

Engineer Gumbo said Parliament has a duty to help President Uhuru Kenyatta to reduce the huge public wage bill which currently stands at 12 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

President Kenyatta in his inaugural speech to the 11th Parliament laid specific emphasis on the need for all arms of government to reduce the public wage bill which he said had reached unsustainable levels.

“Today recurrent expenditure is reaching unsustainable levels, squeezing out resources meant for development. We must keep public wage bill in check,” he told Parliament on April 16.

Mr Kenyatta said the total wage bill in the current financial year is Sh458 billion which is slightly over 12 per cent of the GDP which is well above the internationally accepted standard of 7 per cent.

(Read: Uhuru digs in for low public sector salaries to spur growth)

MPs have sustained their demand for increased pay rise with Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi filing a notice of intention to introduce a petition to remove SRC commissioners on grounds that it “grossly violated the Constitution in reducing salaries earned by MPs in 10th Parliament.

The petition containing a 10 point charge sheet is with the Speaker Justin Muturi who has the power to approve or reject in order to be moved in the floor of the House.