Kenyans To Pay 290 Ex-MPs Sh.100,000 Monthly Lifetime Pension

Another bill has been tabled to parliament that will see taxpayers dig deeper into their pockets to heftily pay ex-members of parliament who served between 1984 and 2001.

The Bill that was proposed by National Assembly leader of Minority John Mbadi and supported by Kipkelion East MP Joseph Limo led Parliamentary committee of Finance and National Planning, will see ex-MPs receive a lump sum of 2.7 billion as retirement benefits and 100,000 shillings monthly pension for the rest of their lives, up from the current 33,000 shillings.

The bill also proposes that the 80 former MPs who have been exempted from pension receive 120,000 shillings monthly to lift them up from poverty, and should be backdated to January 2010.

For ex-MPs who are dead, who are 130 in number, their families will be entitled to about half of the total amount of the monthly payments.

That means, that should this be signed into law by the president, the parliamentary budget office will require a total of 2.7 billion shillings to pay up the cash to all former MPs or their dependents.

The Parliamentary Budget Office fiscal and economic think tank has estimated that a total of 15.075 million shillings will be needed per month to cater for the payment, as it has established that there are about 160 former MPs and 130 widows and widowers.

The Financial and National Planning parliamentary committee members, led by Mr. Limo, said in a recommendation report that they had gone through the bill clause by clause, are in support of it and 11 out of 19 members of the committee signed the report.

“The committee, having considered the Bill clause by clause, proposes that the Bill be passed subject to the proposed amendments,” read the report.