Car loans, mortgages, house allowances: Inside MPs new demands to SRC

A leaked memorandum by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has now revealed a list of demands made by Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

Citing a judgement delivered by the High Court on December 10, 2018, PSC wrote the memorandum on January 31, 2019, asking the SRC to review its decision to lower MPs salaries.

PSC noted that SRC had increased salaries for State officers in the Executive and Judiciary and demanded the quashing of a gazette notice issued by SRC on July 7, 2017.

The PSC memorandum noted MPS ranked at the level of a Court of Appeal judge earning between Ksh.689,244 to Ksh.1,156, 108, while parliamentary office holders ranked the same as a judge of the Supreme Court.

It also insisted that the two Speakers of Parliament rank at the same level as the Deputy President and Chief Justice.

A house allowance of Ksh.250, 000 was also among the demands in the memorandum.

The MPs further insisted that a car grant should be a permanent feature and that it should be Ksh.10 million payable once in a parliamentary term; they cited taxes and the government’s plan to reduce the age of imported cars as reasons for this.

The legislators also want the PSC to determine per diems and removal of restrictions on allowances paid as sitting allowance by way of restricting the number of committee sittings an MP can be paid for.

According to the memorandum, the PSC also wanted mortgage increased to Ksh.35 million for MPs and Ksh.40 million for the Speaker.

The commission also pushed for a car loan of Ksh.8 million for MPs and Ksh.10 million for the Speaker.