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              Kenya Legislators to Debate Report on Pay Commission

   by Peter Clottey

   Members of Kenya's parliament plan to debate Tuesday a report which
   suggests that officials at the Salaries and Remuneration Commission
   (SRC) have violated the constitution.
   The Committee on Delegated Legislation compiled the report which it
   presented to parliament last week.
   "One of the issues the report has come up with is that some of the
   actions of the Salaries and Review Commission were unconstitutional and
   therefore null and void," said legislator James Opiyo Wandayi.
   Civil society and political pressure groups recently protested against
   lawmakers' demands for a salary 130 times the legal minimum wage. The
   demonstrators released live pigs which they said were symbols of the
   greed and corruption of politicians.
   Displeased with the backlash over their pay increase, legislators
   demanded the resignation of Sarah Serem, the head of the SRC, after
   accusing her of demonizing them in public.
   Wandayi says many of his colleagues think that actions of the SRC, an
   independent body, are illegal.  Some also want to amend the
   constitution to remove the commission's ability to determine the
   legislature's pay.
   "There has been a concerted public campaign by the SRC...of pitting
   members of the public against parliamentarians. The public has been
   made to believe that members of parliament are earning too much, yet
   they are continuing to agitate for even more [money]," said Wandayi.
   But Serem and other senior officials of the SRC have denied the
   accusations.
   Wandayi says parliament needs to educate the public over the
   controversy surrounding lawmakers' pay.
   "The Parliamentary Service Commission, which is in charge of the
   welfare of members of parliament and other staff of parliament, needs
   to make a clarification or to do a sensitization [campaign] so the
   public may come to understand the issues as they are," continued
   Wandayi, "because what is not being told is that [legislators] this
   time around, unlike in the past, are obligated to pay taxes just like
   any other members of the public."
   Wandayi says Kenyans are justified in their anger over lawmakers' pay
   demands, since he says a large portion of the youth are unemployed or
   in low paying jobs.
   "The poverty level is too high and most people live below a dollar a
   day, and that actually explains why there is a lot of anger whenever an
   issue such as this is raised," said Wandayi.
   He says there should be a constitutional amendment to resolve tensions
   between the SRC and lawmakers over how legislators are paid.
   "I cannot rule out either amending the constitution either in the near
   future or later to address this issue of SRC or any other issue for
   that matter," said Wandayi.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-legislators-to-debate-report-on
   -pay-commission/1669436.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/kenya-legislators-to-debate-report-on-pay-commission/1669436.html