County assemblies strike set to derail key local services

Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chairperson Sarah Serem addresses the press during her visit at the county headquarters in Eldoret town on September 12, 2013. Mrs Serem said SRC would re-evaluate the salaries for county reps. FILE 

By George Omondi,

In Summary

• More than 2,000 Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) are set to down tools in pursuit of higher pay.
• The county representatives want to more than triple their pay from the current Sh79,200 to Sh257,500 per month.
• The 47 county assembly speakers want their pay to more than double from Sh225,000 to Sh512,800 per month.
• The MCAs are also demanding Sh2 million each in car grants — translating to a Sh4 billion burden on the taxpayer.

Members of Kenya’s 47 county assemblies are set to begin a national strike Thursday morning in a move expected to paralyse the legislative functions of the devolved governments, including the passing of crucial bills.

The decision to begin industrial action was taken during Wednesday’s meeting of county assembly speakers in Nairobi with the officials citing failure by authorities to address concerns over their pay.

“Some county assemblies adjourned today (Wednesday). The rest of the 2,000 members will come on board from tomorrow (Thursday) and stay put until the uncertainty surrounding our pay is addressed,” said Nuhu Nassir Abdi, who chairs the county assembly speakers’ forum.

The Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) have been demanding that their pay perks be reviewed and backdated to May but the national government has argued that the many competing demands on its budget does not allow such increments.

The MCAs demand for higher pay comes in the middle of a protracted debate over the recent decision by the national government to introduce value added tax (VAT) on key consumer goods – increasing the cost of living by large margins.

The Treasury has argued that persistent demand for higher pay by Kenya’s elected leaders and senior state officers is partly behind the quest to introduce new tax measures to shore up the revenue.

But charging VAT on essential commodities such as milk, maize meal, bread, paraffin and cooking fat has hit low-income households hard, setting the stage for a huge political backlash.

The county representatives want to more than triple their pay from the current Sh79,200 to Sh257,500 per month. The 47 county assembly speakers want their pay to more than double from Sh225,000 to Sh512,800 per month.

The demand is hinged on the pay structure of the National Assembly where MPs and the Speaker take home 43 per cent and 80 per cent of the President’s salary respectively.

The idea is to have the MCAs earn 43 per cent and the speakers to take home 80 per cent of the governor’s salary. The official pay structure gives the MCAs a 12 per cent and the speakers 35 per cent of the governor’s basic pay.

(READ: SRC to peg county chiefs’ pay on resources)

The MCAs are also demanding Sh2 million each in car grants — translating to a Sh4 billion burden on the taxpayer. The county representatives also want the State to pay their domestic staff, offer them an annual medical insurance cover of Sh5.3 million each, and special duty allowances of Sh77,523.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has termed the list of demands as unrealistic for a country whose wage bill stands above the recommended level of 7 per cent of the national revenue by by five percentage points.

On Wednesday, Dr Abdi said the MCAs were unhappy with the SRC’s insistence that any pay adjustment will be subject to job evaluation.

“We initially gave them the benefit of the doubt when they called for job evaluation three months ago but nothing has happened yet our role is clear in the constitution,” said Dr Abdi.