daily nation july 27 07
EDITORIALS
Veto the MPs' payoff proposal at once
Publication Date: 7/27/2007
The National Assembly is set to discuss proposals that only serve to illustrate just how insatiable our MPs have become.
The amendments to the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill will see MPs award themselves hefty “farewell” payments as the Ninth Parliament comes to a close.
Almost from day one, this Parliament has earned a dubious distinction for the enthusiasm with which its members have awarded themselves hefty pay raises, allowances and other perks.
Such proposals have passed unanimously in a House otherwise infamous for being unable to raise quorum or consensus on critical national issues.
Passage of the proposal will be a demonstration of the contempt with which our legislators holds the taxpayers – the voting public, which has often expressed disgust at the rapaciousness that MPs exhibit.
It defeats logic why the Treasury has decided to table afresh these proposals for a winding-up allowance. Similar efforts have, in the past, been shelved after the depth of likely public anger was assessed.
That they were brought back riding on the back of an existing Miscellaneous Amendments Bill indicates a certain degree of chicanery.
With a maximum of four months, and most likely much less, to the end of the current Parliament, the picture presented is one of MPs desperate to award themselves cash for re-election purposes.
In other words, the taxpayer is being made, without his consent, to contribute to the political campaign coffers of the outgoing MPs.
At a time when Kenyans are being told to tighten their belts; when urgent development projects are on hold for lack of funds; when workers in key sectors in the public service are being denied the pay rises they deserve, it becomes not just heartless, but criminal, when MPs award themselves hefty sums at will.
The Government cannot possibly justify such handouts for a few. It must not just explain where the money will come from, but, more important, why others on the public payroll are not treated similarly.
Tame the PSC monster
With elections around the corner, it will be easy to see the payoffs as a bribe. If the MPs want to show that they will not be bought in such fashion, then they must themselves reject the package.
Finally, steps must be taken to ensure that legislators will never again loot the public coffers through legalism. Laws governing the Parliamentary Service Commission must be amended to introduce independent oversight so that MPs cannot award themselves all sorts of benefits any time they wish.
A major anomaly must also be corrected so that Parliament will be unable to set its own budget without reference to the normal budgetary mechanisms managed by the Treasury.
A situation exists at present where our MPs are the only employees in the world who can sit and determine their own salaries, allowances and benefits.
They can do so in total disregard of whether the money is available or not, the state of the economy, budget priorities, and the general needs and welfare of the people they claim to represent.
The establishment of the Parliamentary Service Commission, it seems, created a monster that must now be brought under control.
Allowing MPs a blank cheque to take whatever they desire from the same pot that must also pay teachers and doctors, build roads, fund education and health has surely been grossly abused.
Without independent oversight, it will continue to be abused, for those making the proposals will be the ones debating them and voting for them. They are all, from ministers to opposition MPs, beneficiaries.
The proposals must be withdrawn immediately. If not, then MPs must prove their mettle and reject them. And if they still pass, then the President should use his veto power and reject them.
