Outrage as Kenya's MPs seek $91,000 payoffs

Kenya's famously well-paid members of Parliament (MPs) have again provoked outrage with a plan to pay themselves nearly $91,000 each when their terms end in December. The proposed payments come on top of annual packages of at least $142,000, making them among the best-remunerated politicians in the world. Nearly half of Kenya's population lives below the poverty line. Essential workers such as teachers and nurses are poorly paid. The planned severance pay for the 222 MPs will cost the country more than $20 million. Under the deal senior cabinet ministers, whose pay is swelled by generous allowances and perks, stand to receive as much as $132,000 when they leave office. The details were hidden in a miscellaneous bill brought before parliament on Thursday. Only the absence of the attorney-general prevented it going to the vote, where it would almost certainly have been passed. Unlike in most other countries, where an independent committee sets salaries for MPs, Kenyan MPs determine their own pay. In an editorial, the Daily Nation newspaper called the pay proposal "a demonstration of the contempt with which our legislators hold the taxpayers," and said the move was a ploy by MPs to build up funds for their re-election campaigns. The rival Standard newspaper called the plan "the most cruel and scandalous act against the nation." It said: "A walk through our hospitals and schools, on roads eaten away by years of corruption and neglect, just serves to prove that we have been defrauded by MPs whose pay is far much better than that of their counterparts in the so-called donor states." When the president, Mwai Kibaki, took power in 2003, ending two decades of kleptocratic rule by Daniel arap Moi, parliament's first act was to dramatically increase MPs' salaries, which had historically been modest. Since then MPs have increased or attempted to increase their pay, which is mostly tax free, on several occasions. Last year, while donors appealed for millions of pounds in food aid to mitigate a crippling drought in Kenya, MPs blocked the adoption of the national budget until their mileage allowances had been drastically increased and backdated. In December parliament voted to nearly triple Kibaki's salary, taking his total package to $567,829. After a public outcry the president, whose family is one of the richest in Kenya, refused the award. In previous parliaments there has been no provision for golden handshake payments. "The idea of giving severance pay to elected officials who may return to office anyway is simply ridiculous," said Mwalimu Mati, director of Mars Group, an anti-corruption organization in Nairobi. "It is pure unmitigated greed." Most Kenyans would agree, especially when the politicians' workload is taken into account. Parliamentary sessions are frequently adjourned because the quorum of 30 MPs has not been reached, and only a handful of bills are passed each year. It is a common joke, though one largely based in truth, that the only time parliament is full is when there is a vote on MPs' salaries.