An MCA will earn close to Sh400,000 besides being awarded a development budget if proposals by the new County Assemblies Forum (CAF) are adopted.
Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) currently pocket a monthly salary of Sh144,376 and the proposal will almost triple their pay.
The clamour for a pay rise by the 2,100 MCAs, coming on the back of similar demands by the 416 Members of Parliament, will only worsen the country’s wage bill crisis at a time limited public resources are also being gobbled up by repayment of a choking public debt.
Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge recently told MPs that for every shilling collected in revenue, about 40 per cent goes to debt servicing meaning that for every Sh100 collected, Sh40 goes to footing debt.
If the MCAs get their way, the taxpayer will cough up an extra Sh32 billion over the five-year term, the figure rising even higher once the MPs’ pay rise is factored in.
According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the public wage bill for the financial year 2019-2020 was Sh944 billion.
This was nearly 60 per cent of the government revenues for the same period, that stood at Sh1.6 trillion.
The bill has been rising partly fueled by fat allowances drawn by government employees as well as outright theft such as the reported Sh35 billion looted at the counties through ghost workers.
In an exclusive interview with the Nation after being elected unopposed to lead CAF, Mr Philemon Sabulei stated that there is a massive disparity in the remuneration of MCAs and MPs, and yet they have similar roles.
Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly Speaker and County Assemblies Forum Chair Philemon Sabulei. He says there is a massive disparity in the remuneration of MCAs and MPs, and yet they have similar roles.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“MPs get 43 per cent of the salary of the Head of State, while MCAs get a paltry 16 per cent of the governor's salary. It is time we stop this blatant discrimination and violation of the rules of equity,” said Mr Sabulei.
Asked about the new pay review push by MCAs, SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said the ward representatives knew what they would be earning a month to the polls.
“The correct position (on MCAs pay, its calculation, and other benefits) is as per the Gazette notice of July 2022,” Ms Mengich said in a short response.
According to SRC, governors are entitled to a gross monthly salary of Sh924,000, which includes a basic pay of Sh554,400 and a house allowance of Sh200,000.
The governors also have a Sh10 million for inpatient medical cover, Sh300,000 for outpatient, Sh150,000 for maternity and Sh75,000 each for dental and optical cover.
The county bosses also get Sh20,000 airtime allowance and a Sh50,000 annual leave allowance.
MCAs, on the other hand, have a Sh3 million inpatient cover, Sh200,000 (outpatient), Sh100,000 (maternity) and Sh50,000 each for dental and optical cover.
“There is a monumental error that needs to be corrected with regard to the salaries of MCAs. SRC continues to take a hard position on this issue yet statistical evidence indicates that MCAs are deeply disadvantaged,” said Mr Sabulei, who is also the Elgeyo-Marakwet speaker.
The push by the MCAs comes at a time MPs are locked in a stand-off with SRC over their pay, with the legislators demanding a return of their sitting allowances that the agency scrapped early this year.
Salaries and Remuneration Commission chairperson Lyn Mengich. The push by the MCAs comes at a time MPs are locked in a stand-off with SRC over their pay, with the legislators demanding a return of their sitting allowances that the agency scrapped early this year.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Geroup
The parliamentarians are also opposed to restrictions on the engine size of their vehicles, which the SRC capped at 3,000cc in changes published in the Kenya Gazette on July 28.
But SRC has stood its ground, reminding MPs that the benefits they were to enjoy in the 13th Parliament were made public before their election and that they knew what they were getting into.
The SRC publishes the salary structure for all state officers, as well as other benefits, before every General Election, giving those interested in the offices enough time and information on what they will take home if they get elected or appointed to those offices.
Mr Sabulei, who was elected unopposed in the council’s executive committee elections held at the Bomas of Kenya on Monday, said the assemblies should also be given a development budget to end the dependency on the Executive.
“It is time CRA allocates assemblies development budgets to enable them to run their activities and development agenda without compromising their oversight role,” he stated.
The Elgeyo-Marakwet speaker noted that county assemblies have been able to achieve partial autonomy from the National Treasury as per guideline No. 14 of 2015.
This, he insists, was not enough, with the ideal scenario being full financial autonomy from the Executive, like their counterparts at the national level with the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) handling both human resources, budgetary, and financial needs of Parliament.
“We are still far from realising full independence, which continues to hinder the full financial independence of the county assemblies. There is a requirement for the Finance County Executive to appoint signatories to the county assemblies’ accounts as well as the requirement for the said CEC to be a signatory to the county assembly recurrent expenditure account,” he explained.
As such, he observed, members of county assemblies will always be at the mercy of the county Executive during requisitions for funds from the county Treasury.
With regard to assemblies’ oversight, the CAF noted there is a need to strengthen the capacity of the 47 assemblies to effectively check county executives.
“This can be achieved if CRA enhances assemblies’ allocation on training and capacity building and through a partnership with the National Assembly and the Senate to mentor and enhance legislative and oversight capacities of MCAs,” he observed.
He said they want CAF anchored in law and that they have already started engagement with the National Assembly to have the proposed National Council of County Legislatures Bill introduced on the floor of the house by December 2022.
Mr Sabulei said he will expand partnerships with the national government, development partners, and NGOs. “I intend to lead the new team to expand on this and continue to build more partnerships in different sectors to be able to get the support needed to propel our organisation to greater heights,” he said.
