While vying for an elective position should be motivated by the desire to serve the electorate, in Kenya, it’s a business opportunity.
Politicians often cite service to the people as their driving force for getting into politics.
Once they get there, however, they soon hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons—embezzlement of public funds, corruption and plunder.
Kenyans from different fields resign from well-paying jobs to plunge into politics, where the guaranteed pay is way less than what they used to earn.
This is because politics in Kenya is seen as the quickest way to join the elite club of eight- and nine-figure earners, albeit illegally.
No wonder politicians go to extreme lengths to get into office, resorting to dubious means including bribery, violence and killing those who stand in their way.
Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero left the corporate world when he resigned his CEO position at Mumias Sugar Company to venture into politics in 2013.
Former Nairobi deputy governor Polycarp Igathe also left, twice, high-paying jobs in the corporate world to try his hand at politics. Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika left the United States in 2012 where she was practising law and had her own firm in Dallas, Texas, to join politics.
The three are just a few examples of individuals who have abandoned prestigious careers for elective politics even though the salaries earned by politicians pale in comparison with the big bucks that corporations pay individuals in senior positions.
According to new regulations by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that took effect after the August 9 elections, the President will get a monthly salary of Sh1.44 million and his deputy Sh1.23 million.
The Sh1.44 million comprises Sh866,250 in basic pay, Sh350,000 in house allowance and Sh227,500 in market salary adjustment.
On the other hand, the Sh1.23 million gross pay for the Deputy President includes Sh736,313 basic pay, Sh300,000 house allowance and Sh190,875 in market salary adjustment.
Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate will each get Sh1.16 million in gross pay per month, including Sh696,000 in basic pay, Sh250,000 in house allowance and Sh214,000 in salary market adjustment.
Their deputies will each pocket Sh928,000 in gross pay per month, where Sh556,800 is basic pay, Sh200,000 house allowance and Sh171,200 market salary adjustment.
The majority and minority leaders in the two houses are entitled to Sh768,000 in monthly gross pay, which includes Sh460,800 basic pay, Sh150,000 house allowance and Sh157,200 adjustment.
For MPs, the gross pay is Sh710,000—Sh426,000 basic pay, Sh150,000 house allowance and Sh134,000 market adjustment.
County governors will be entitled to a gross monthly pay of Sh924,000 that includes Sh554,400 basic pay, Sh200,000 house allowance and Sh169,600 salary adjustment.
Their deputies will earn Sh621,250 a month —Sh372,750 basic pay, Sh100,000 house allowance and Sh148,500 salary adjustment.
Members of the county executive committees will earn Sh404,250, which includes Sh242,550 basic pay, Sh80,000 house allowance and Sh81,700 salary adjustment.
Members of the county assemblies (MCAs) are entitled to a monthly salary of Sh165,000, excluding allowances that take the monthly earnings to slightly more than Sh200,000.
These salaries are nowhere near the amount of money an individual has to spend to capture an elective seat in Kenya. Due to the handout culture, many politicians get into office not because of their track record but sheer spending power. Also to blame is lack of campaign financing regulations.
Take, for example, running for a parliamentary seat, where a politician will spend not less than Sh25 million and in some cases more than Sh60 million, depending on how competitive the race is.
The spending is even higher in cosmopolitan areas where a candidate has to win the support of different ethnic groups and classes compared to rural areas dominated by one tribe or party.
Former Migori County Woman Rep Pamela Odhiambo told a local publication that she spent Sh25 million in her 2017 campaigns, Belgut MP Nelson Koech forked out over Sh30 million, while Kiharu lawmaker Ndindi Nyoro said it takes upwards of Sh60 million to unseat an incumbent.
Vihiga Senator Geoffrey Osotsi said that some people spend even more depending on when they begin their campaigns as the expenditure includes spending at funerals, churches and other places.
But if one has the goodwill from voters and is a front-runner, then the expenditure can be less.
“For me, I had so many well-wishers who helped me during the campaigns and so I did not spend much. My campaigns started in 2018 but I had a lot of goodwill on the ground,” Mr Osotsi said.
A 2021 study on the cost of politics in Kenya by Karuti Kanyinga and Tom Mboya shows that politics is increasingly transactional and campaigning never stops.
As such, the more a candidate spends, the greater their chance of electoral victory, with victorious ones saying they spent more than double the losers.
The study says that the Senate election is the most expensive of all the four posts they studied, at an average of Sh35.5 million, followed by the Woman Rep seat at Sh22.8 million, MP at Sh18.2 million and MCA at Sh3.1 million.
“But for those successfully elected the costs do not stop when in office. On average, elected members of the National Assembly spend as much as Ksh780,000 a month, primarily on development projects for constituents and donations to local interest groups,” the report says.
“This is more than their basic monthly salary before allowances and benefits. A similar trend of monthly expenditure matching or being greater than basic salary was reported across all four positions studied.”
With an MP guaranteed legal pay of Sh710,000 every month, it will take such a legislator at least seven years to get back Sh60 million spent on campaigns, yet Kenya has five-year terms.
In the lead-up to the August 9 polls, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) published campaign financing regulations that capped spending for various elective seats.
One would have thought the move would be welcomed by the political class, but they shot it down.
So why are so many Kenyans venturing into politics? The allure of “quick riches” that come with political power.
Mr Osotsi said that a person could leave a high-paying job to join politics for various reasons, including power and to genuinely serve the people.
“Some have all the money but lack power. You need power because power is sweet and important,” he said.
Political analyst Javas Bigambo said key reasons why people get into politics in Kenya include business and the protection of their own interests, which are disguised as public interests.
“It’s unimaginable that one spends Sh500 million, in the case of a governor, for a job that the salary will be, by far, less than that. So it’s inconceivable that one will make losses and gladly so. It’s not practical and it’s not possible,” Mr Bigambo said.
Consequently, he said, it’s an unwritten rule that Kenyan politics is and expects politicians to be corrupt. He explained that this is why once politicians get into office, they start engaging in wheeler-dealing and doing business with public entities.
“They’re going to be in control of billions of shillings and they can easily circumvent procurement laws, with deals done through companies that act as conduits,” he said.
The study by Mr Kanyinga and Mr Mboya says that the benefits that come with being an elected official are sizeable. The positions, they write, grant the individuals the title of Mheshimiwa and open doors into Kenya’s wider patronage structures.
“Some of those interviewed for this study were of the view that people do not run for office to serve the community; they run for office because when you win, you have many benefits and networks for easy self-enrichment.”
With the importance attached to money in politics, says the report, elected officials regularly fail to provide effective oversight of the use of resources by the executive at both the national and county levels. “This would be an exercise in futility, given that some intend to access those resources for personal or political gain.”
Several audit reports have laid bare how counties and the national government divert funds, fail to bank collected revenue and make irregular payments to contractors and staff.
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, financial impropriety is the biggest threat to devolution, with several county governments making irregular payments and breaking procurement rules. An audit report for the 2017/2018 financial year revealed that the national government could not account for about Sh514.6 billion.
In May, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Fred Matiang’i raised concern that corruption and the deployment of huge amounts of cash in political campaigns would see the next Parliament end up with up to 40 per cent of members being money launderers and other big-league criminals.
He said there was an upsurge in the number of candidates with doubtful qualifications, including those with criminal records and suspected involvement in illegal activities eyeing various elective seats.
This is because the individuals are taking advantage of weak regulations on the amount and source of campaign funds to manipulate the electoral process.
“We could end up laundering criminals of unprecedented standards into our elective offices. We might have over 40 per cent of elected officeholders becoming our leaders if we allow all the ‘wash wash’ gangs and other criminals to bribe their way in the coming elections.”
The rush into politics is similar to the one to join the government. In 2013, several technocrats left their high-paying jobs and took massive pay cuts to join President Kenyatta’s government.
Transport CS James Macharia, his Sports counterpart Amina Mohamed and former CS Adan Mohamed are some examples.
Mr Macharia, tapped from NIC Bank (now NCBA) by President Kenyatta to join his inaugural Cabinet as Health CS, was the bank’s managing director, a position he had held since 2005.
Mr Mohamed was the managing director of Barclays Bank in East and West Africa, while Ms Mohamed was a deputy director at the United Nations Environment Programme.
Mr Joe Mucheru would join later in 2015 as CS for ICT from Google, where he was sub-Saharan Africa lead and key in setting up Google’s presence in Africa from 2007.
Each of these was reported to have been earning between Sh1 million and Sh3 million per month and their appointment as Cabinet secretaries saw their pay fall to the SRC’s recommended Sh858,000 at the time.
In the new SRC regulations, a Cabinet secretary, the Attorney-General and Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service will earn a gross monthly salary of Sh924,000.
