Outrage over massive pay awards for MPs

Kenyans have expressed outrage over a decision by the country's 223 legislators to award themselves a multi-million dollar car allowance scheme, barely a month after the government bowed to demands to massively increase their salaries. On Wednesday, members of parliament passed a vote in favour of an additional US $9.2 million (about US $43,000 each) to import duty free personal vehicles. The controversial deal was presented to parliament by Finance Minister David Mwiraria, who was "blackmailed" by the MPs, Kenya's independent 'Daily Nation' reported. They had threatened to block the minister's proposals for an increase in the government's budget allocation to cover free primary education and healthcare, unless he also included their package, the paper said. The minister has also asked parliament to approve two bills on anti-corruption measures and public officers' ethics, to which donors have pegged the resumption of aid which has been suspended since 1997. "SELFISH INTERESTS" The local media and the public have accused MPs of placing their "selfish interests" before more urgent issues of national importance, such as the country's economic crisis, high levels of poverty, dilapidated infrastructure, and a nationwide HIV/AIDS emergency. Koki Muli, who heads the Nairobi-based Institute of Education and Democracy (IED), told IRIN it was "unacceptable" for MPs to be given money to buy expensive cars, while many Kenyans were dying because the country's hospitals lacked drugs. "This is a very dishonourable thing to do," she said. "It is very annoying. As a democracy, I think we are moving backwards." "If it is true that they are blackmailing the government, it is unacceptable," she added. "The whole issue of MPs not paying taxes is unacceptable in a democratic society. They should be leading by example. They only deserve to get the money when the time is appropriate and only when we have the money." Vitalis Meja, who runs another NGO, the Kenya Debt Relief Network, said the MPs were setting a dangerous precedent by "placing their priorities upside-down". And with the country's external debt standing at US $5.3 billion and the domestic debt rising alarmingly at a rate of 45 percent, the already-battered economy could suffer major setbacks. "This is not the right time to give free money, especially to MPs," Meja said. "I still think we are making the same mistakes that the previous government made. There are still no transparent institutions to monitor government funding." According to the 'Daily Nation', the amount of money the MPs are demanding for their personal vehicles would have put an additional US $48 annually into the pay packets of the country's 243,000 teachers who are calling for higher wages. "If memory serves us right, a speedy resolution of the teachers' pay crisis was one of the NARC's [ruling National Rainbow Coalition] promises to Kenyans," the paper stated. MPs REACT Some MPs have accused the media of launching a "hate campaign" against them. Opposition MP Justice Muturi told IRIN the issue of MPs' salary hikes was "nothing new" and that the recommendation was made last year by a special tribunal headed by the former chief justice Abdul Majid Cockar. "They [the media] appear to be on a war path with parliament," he said. "All we are doing is effecting the report based on the recommendations of Justice Cockar's tribunal." "Who said democracy was cheap?," Muturi, from the opposition KANU party, asked. "We want to bring back the role of members of parliament, which is to legislate and influence policy...But you can only legislate if given the support and the space by your constituents." Mutula Kilonzo, also a KANU MP, however disagreed. He is among the only three legislators to oppose the pay rise. He told IRIN that while he supported an eventual increase in pay, now was not the time. "Everyone in Kenya is having a bad time," he said. "Everyone is suffering. So for MPs to feel that they are entitled to higher pay is wrong."