Kenya police fire tear gas at protesters

July 31 2007 at 02:32PM

Nairobi - Kenyan police fired tear gas to scatter demonstrators protesting on Tuesday against plans by members of parliament to award themselves big pay rises as a "severance package" before December elections.

Dozens of protesters rallied by a grassroots group, the Civil Society Task Force on Grand Corruption, tried to reach parliament, blowing whistles and waving placards denouncing the move to grant MPs another 1,4-billion shillings (about R140-billion).

Police blocked the road outside and later fired several tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd, a Reuters witness said.

"Down with members of parliament, down with the thieves of taxpayers' money," some protesters shouted as they ran away.

Click here!

The legislators first infuriated the public - which widely views them as greedy, selfish, and lazy - by quadrupling their salaries in 2003 as their first order of business.

Since then, they have rarely been able to raise the quorum of 30 out of 222 MPs, except when their own compensation has been up for debate. In the new bill, lawmakers will receive 12,5 percent of their annual earnings, backdated to January 2003.

Several members of parliament contacted by Reuters on Tuesday declined to comment before the bill is tabled in parliament, which is expected to happen soon.