Uasin Gishu MCAs defy spending caps

Dan Misijiro, a trader in Eldoret Town, displays documents requiring him to pay an extra Sh2,550 before he is issued with a business permit. He has already paid Sh7,200. Businesspeople have cried foul over the additional charge. Residents condemned MCAs for using public funds to enrich themselves. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• County and 12 others to be probed over failure to obey rules.
• Each ward representative received Sh312,339 in allowances per month instead of Sh124,800 set by commission.

By COPPERFIELD LAGAT
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Members of the Uasin Gishu County Assembly exceeded the ceiling set for monthly sitting allowances by three times, the salaries commission has said.

In a report released on Sunday, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission said each MCA from the devolved unit walks away with an average of Sh312,339 in sitting allowances each month.

The figure is about three times the Sh124,800 monthly sitting allowance ceiling set by the commission.

Each MCA ends up earning approximately Sh500,000 in salaries and allowances per month.

According to the report, each MCA earned this amount on average in the first six months of last year.

LINING THEIR POCKETS

In Eldoret Town, residents condemned the MCAs for using public funds to enrich themselves.

“This is unacceptable. It’s sad that the people we elected to represent us are thinking of how to fatten their pockets,” said Mr Josephat Lelei, a resident.

Mr Lelei said it was wrong for the assembly members to defy regulations set by the commission, which was constitutionally established.

Cord’s Uasin Gishu point man, Mr Kipkorir Menjo, said the MCAs were being unfair to the public as they were pocketing cash that would have been spent on roads, among other projects.

He said the gap between the poor and the rich would continue to widen so long as such selfish leaders were in power.

“If we have such leaders, we cannot meet the development agenda. This is money from taxpayers. The poor will continue sinking down the poverty trench if such people remain in leadership,” said Mr Menjo, ODM’s Uasin Gishu chairman.

Mr Michael Muge, a trader, said President Uhuru Kenyatta should bring the war on corruption to the grassroots.

“The President is busy fighting corruption in the national government. There is need to spread the drive to counties because some leaders are tarnishing the name of devolution by robbing the public of cash,” said Mr Muge.

The report puts members of the Migori County Assembly as second spenders after those in Uasin Gishu.

In Migori, each MCA took home Sh185,792 in monthly sitting allowances. Each MCA in Trans Nzoia received Sh178,168, Homa Bay (Sh165,120) and Bungoma (Sh154,700).

The controller of budget said 13 county assemblies that defied the salaries commission’s guidelines on allowances would be investigated.