Will Kenyan MPs Refund Ksh 2.7 Billion Illegally Awarded As Allowances?

On Thursday 10th November, Kenyan MPs suffered a blow after the High Court ordered them to refund more than 2.7 billion shillings received as house allowance after judges termed the pay illegal.

The 416 MPs had been paid the allowance for eight months before the High Court stopped the pay in May last year. The court directed clerks of the Senate and National Assembly, to recover the cash within a year.

In a ruling, Justices Weldon Korir, Pauline Nyamweya, and John Mativo ordered the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to deduct from the legislators’ salaries within 12 months.

Justices Pauline Nyamweya, Weldon Korir, and John Mativo yesterday found that the commission had no powers to allocate 250,000 shillings monthly to every MP and backdate it to 2018 without the authority of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

According to the records, the MPs collectively pocketed 1.2 billion shillings annually which translates to 2.9 Billion shillings since the first payment was made. This means that each MP will refund taxpayers’ 7.2 million shillings.

For 26 months, taxpayers paid 104 million shillings each month to MPs illegally. The judges dismissed PSC’s plea that it allows current MPs to earn equal salaries as those who served in the 11th Parliament and to keep the illegal payout.

“Flowing from our finding that the PSC’s decision to set and facilitate the payment to the MPs is ultra vires its constitutional and statutory mandate,” said justices Pauline Nyamweya, Weldon Korir, and John Mativo.

The judges said the PSC’s role is budgetary, adding that the SRC acted within its mandate by directing the clerks of Parliament not to pay the allowance and the failure by PSC to seek approval of the SRC.

Activist Okiya Omtatah and a host of NGOs challenged the allowance in court. He said it would cost taxpayers more than 1.2 billion shillings annually and gave the MPs double benefit as house allowance is already included by SRC in MPs’ gross pay.

“In cognizance of Parliament’s immense power, the Constitution includes checks to limit the House’s power in determining members’ remuneration. Indeed, pay for all state and public officers is a Constitutional issue.

At the same time, SRC’s lawyer Peter Wanyama told the court that MPs bulldozed it to ratify 19 allowances for themselves. The lawyer claimed that in retaliation, Parliament went ahead to slash SRC’s budgetary allocation.