Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has shared some details about the privileges and funds his office is allocated as he called on Parliament to consider cutting down on its expenditure.
Sifuna who was speaking on the floor of the House revealed that as a deputy minority leader, he has been allocated a GK vehicle with money amounting to Sh377,000 on the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) card for Expressway use.
“Mr Speaker, I want to give a personal secret and you will forgive me if I am giving out the House secrets,” he said.
“When I became the deputy minority leader, I was allocated a GK vehicle, on the first day I used that vehicle to go home I passed through Expressway and I was shocked at the amount that is in the ETC card.”
The amount, he noted, has remained underutilized to date as he called for it to be scrapped.
“I honestly do not need all that money, even if I ran up and down the Expressway for a year, I would not exhaust Sh377,000,” he said.
ETC service is one of the payment options used by motorists using Expressway.
It allows drivers to automatically pay toll fees.
While contributing to a motion, Sifuna noted that there are many ways that Parliament can lead by example by reducing unnecessary allocations to demonstrate that they mean their words.
“We need to relook at our budgets in this House and see where we can make major concessions and cuts for the public to feel that we are lessening the burden and not increasing,” he said.
He told the parliamentary staff to be honest about how they prepare the parliamentary budgets.
