MPs have been directed by the High Court to pay back Kshs 1.2 billion to Kenyans they allotted to themselves unlawfully two years ago. Activist Okiya Omtatah and the Salaries and remuneration Commission (SRC) had challenged the awarding of the money, which the MPs were receiving for seven months, from August 2018, before a Court order suspending the disbursement was issued. Omtatah in a petition filed in 2019 stated that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) without knowledge and approval of the SRC secretly resolved to pay a monthly allowance of Kshs 250,000 to each of the 418 MPs backdated to 2018, “Further, that it paid backdated house allowances of Kshs 2.25 million in April 2018 to each MP.”
The payment is set to cost the Kenyan taxpayers Kshs 1.2 billion annually and is a double benefit since house allowance is already part of the MPs’ gross pay. On their part, the SRC condemned that the PSC requested approval to pay the house allowances in 2019 January, citing reasons including the fact that Governors and deputy Governors enjoy a housing benefit and MPs need one too. However, SRC didn’t approve of the housing allowance request.
The commission stated that the PSC’s decision to award the allowances has resulted in the loss of public funds in excess of Kshs 99,500,000 per month and sets a dangerous precedent in the management of public funds. A three-judge bench, comprising of justices Weldon Korir, Pauline Nyamweya and John Mativo, on Thursday ruled that the awarding of the house allowances contrary to the SRC structures violates the Constitution and goes beyond the powers of the PSC.
They directed the Clerk of the Senate and National Assembly to recover in full from the salaries and allowances of each MP the entire money paid as accommodation or house allowance, pursuant to the illegal and unconstitutional decision of the PSC to set and approve the payment of an accommodation or house allowance.
