Irregular allowances of Sh460million paid to MPs recovered
Legislators have completed repaying the Sh460 million allowances that the court concluded were fraudulently acquired, according to Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai.
Speaking to a local daily, Sialai confirmed that they had withheld Sh169,000 and Sh172,000 from each member every month in order to reclaim the entire sum from Members of Parliament in order to fully comply with the court decision.
“Some members opted to pay out what they owed in cash while for others we had to do the monthly deductions which we are now done with, so there is no member that is finishing his term with that public debt. We have now fully complied with the court order; the end of June was the last deduction,” Sialai said.
The Parliament Service Commission (PSC), which employs MPs through the National Assembly Clerk and his Senate counterpart, began withholding the funds in December of last year.
The parliamentarians are in office until August 8, 2022, but have been encouraged to clear with Parliament before then to allow the Clerk’s office to prepare for the 13th Parliament for constituency personnel, which they were meant to do by July 7.
The action was a severe setback for some MPs whose pay stubs are zero or negative due to various financial responsibilities.
It also damaged MPs fighting for re-election or seeking other elective offices, such as governorships, which require a financial war fund.
“It was a painful decision but we had to do it in compliance with the court order,” Sialai said.
The High Court had earlier on in 2018 to December 2020 issued the ruling, that each of the 418 MPs was paid Sh250, 000 per month for accommodation and house allowance, an amount that did not have the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s permission (SRC).
The PSC agreed to pay the stipend to MPs in April 2019, and the payments were retroactive to October 2018 over a 26-month period, with each MP receiving Sh6.5 million.
The High Court bench of Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Weldon Korir, and John Mativo concurred with SRC and ruled that the Constitution and statutes do not grant the PSC any explicit duty to fix MPs’ and parliamentary staff’s wages and allowances.
The ruling was maintained by the Court of Appeal last year; however, the MPs, through their employer PSC, requested to halt the order’s enforcement until the Supreme Court heard and decided the matter.
Lady Justice Njoki Ndung’u refused to suspend the High Court decision, which decided in 2020 that the money was stolen from taxpayers.
“I decline to certify the matter as urgent and order the case by Parliament to be placed before the Deputy Registrar, who shall give directions on compliance for determination by a five-judge Bench,” ruled Ndung’u.
