| PHOTO: | A file photo of Senate Speaker Ekwee Ehuro with National Assembly's Justin Muturi. |
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By:
SAMUEL KISIKA
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| Posted:
Oct,13-2016 11:39:23
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Taxpayers may spend at least Sh37 million monthly, footing pension for 370 former MPs who served between 1984 and 2002.
The petitioners, under the Former Parliamentarians Association of Kenya (Fopak), want Parliament to assist them in getting the stipend.
Their reason is that they are in a "sorry state of living conditions."
The former MPs argued that the then Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) did not consider their livelihoods in terms of reasonable pension packages when they left Parliament.
This, they said, left them subjected to economic hardships.
"We draw the attention of the House that both sitting and former MPs are the face of national leadership outside Parliament and that circumstances impose an inescapably heavy burden and unpremeditated social responsibility on them," reads the petition presented by Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo on Thursday.
The petitioners asked the House, through the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, to amend the PSC Act to allow Sh100,000 monthly payments to each of them.
The petitioners also argue that a 2009 Tribunal commissioned by PSC recommended they receive the sum but that they have been earning between Sh2,700 and Sh40,000.
They hold that the amount they are receiving is a huge mismatch with the current high cost of living and economic situation.
"Failing to pay former MPs the recommended Living Pension of $1,000 is in violation of their inherent right to a dignified life as guaranteed in Article 28 of the constitution," reads the petition.
MPs supported the petition on the grounds that they may be in a similar situation after leaving Parliament, if they fail to help their "suffering former colleagues".
"This petition is timely. It is very sad, and all pensions for former MPs should be harmonised," said National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale.
"When they leave office they should become government's consultants and ambassadors. In Kenya when you leave office you go to the village."
Deputy Minority leader Jakoyo Midiwo (Gem) asked his colleagues to "rise to the occasion and help fellow Kenyans in dire situations".
Speaker Justin Muturi committed the petition to the Finance committee; he asked it to invite the petitioners to hear their views and come up with a report for MPs to adopt, to pave way for implementation.
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