By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
June 5, 2013
Some three members of the
National Assembly were breathing fire and brimstone in Kenya’s parliament last
week. They wanted their slashed salaries reinstated back. For this reason, they
went berserk and raged at everybody they could lay their eyes on.
At first they vented their
wrath on Sarah Serem the chairlady of the Salaries Remuneration Commission.
They called her names and even intimated that she was not qualified for the
job. Never mind that the same MPs were the same people who interviewed and gave
her the job.
When that line of protest
was not working, they enjoined the entire SRC Commission and threatened to sack
the whole lot if their salaries were not reinstated to pre 2013 levels. It was
a week of madness and loss of mind on the part of the MPs.
When chairman of the
Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution Simon Nyachae waded into
the saga by threatening to sue any staff of the Parliamentary Service
Commission should they dare pay the MPs their old salaries, the whole house ran
amok. They bayed for Nyachae’s blood questioning his duties at the CIC. Some of
them even called him a busy body.
The spat with Nyachae and
Serem finally spread to all the `11 constitutional commissions. MPs felt
slighted and now wanted to vet all commissions a fresh and reduce their numbers
from 9 to 3 and even the three would be put on part time job! They claimed that
there were too many commissioners earning too much money and wasting public
funds.
When President Uhuru
Kenyatta waded into the salaries dispute with MPs and seemed to support Sarah
Serem, the angry MPs turned their guns on the Head of State.
They threatened to
paralyze the National Budget process, reduce the President’s salary by 57% ,
abolish VAT and exempt any Kenyan
earning Ksh 50,000 and below from paying any taxes.
However, even after
throwing all these tantrums for a good two weeks, it would seem like the
honorable MPs were merely blowing hot air. Sarah Serem and her commissioners
are still office. All other commissioners are still sitting pretty. The
President’s salary has not been slashed. What remains is that the Ksh 532,000
that Sarah’s commission gave them is still standing.
As the wrangles in the
National Assembly reached its crescendo, the belligerent MPs chose to open
another battle front. This time they were spoiling for a fight with their
counterparts in the Senate. The origin of the fiat seemed to have emanated from
the Finance Bill that had been debated and passed by the Lower House and passed
on to the Senate. However, on second thoughts, some MPs felt that the Finance
Bill should not have gone to the Senate.
As the two houses argued
back and forth, some hot headed MPs started insulting and calling Senators
names. Others called them retirees while others called them wazees. Then came a
clincher. Some MPs dared to bring a bill in the Lower House to disband the
three month old Senate claiming that it has no meaningful role in Kenya.
As all this drama was
unfolding, the civil society had their own idea. They needed to confront this
tyranny of numbers in the National Assembly. They had fleeced Kenyans
throughout Kibaki’s reign and were bent on continuing that legacy under Uhuru
Kenyatta. For that reason, the Civil Society
organized a rare demo in which
several pigs were delivered at the gates of the august house with plenty
of blood for pigs to feed on the whole of that morning. Some pigs were even
branded with names of the most vocal MPs that were baying for Sarah Serem’s
blood. Yes Kenyans wanted to tell MPs that they were as greedy as pigs if not
worse!
With all this drama around
us, the public got busy debating the merits and demerits of the two august houses.
Right now we have 67
members of the Senate and over 300 members of the National Assembly. They are
all on the same salary scale even though senators represent larger constituencies seven times larger than
MPs.
In fact the current
parliament looks like a school hall
where the Speaker finds it difficult to know the names of his MPs. One wonders
what meaningful debate goes on in there considering the numbers to deal with
let alone their diversity.
If indeed Kenyans choose
to disband one house, recent events have shown that there is more sense and
maturity residing in the Senate. Removing over 300 MPs from the payroll and
sending them home would save this country billions of shillings not to mention
wrangles and cheap debates now preoccupying the National Assembly.
The size of our country,
our economy and population does not need
310 MPs to squander our meager resources. If America’s 50 states can
only elect 400 Reps to Congress to serve
its 300 million people with a land mass of a half a continent, we have no
business trying to outdo them in parliamentary representation.
Kenya can best be served
by the Senate comprising of 67 members.
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