Details have emerged of the intrigues behind the delayed approval of nominees to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Sources in Parliament told the Star that last week’s call by a senior parliamentary leader asking for more time to consider the report was not ordinary.
They point to a bid to armtwist the new team to approve allowances including for plenary sittings which the Lyn Mengich-led team abolished.
Some quarters pointed to delays in securing budgets for the new commissioners, but MPs have power to approve spending by entities afterwards.
Last Thursday, MPs voted in plenary to extend by 14 days, the period for approval of the report by Labour committee.
This was after the committee chaired by Runyenjes MP Eric Karemba gave President William Ruto’s list of nominees a clean bill of health.
The House team said Sammy Chepkwony (chairperson), Martin Ong’oyi, Mohamed Aden, Jane Gatakaa, Leonid Ashindu, Gilda Odera, and Geoffrey Apollo met the cut.
The National Assembly was scheduled to deliberate on the report on the last sitting day before the long December recess.
It is then that a motion was moved extending the approval period, which puts the earliest date for considering the report in January.
New details point to exchanges between the new SRC team and MPs over sticking issues, some of which are historical.
It is understood that MPs want the new team to reinstate the plenary sitting allowances on grounds the removal has affected sittings.
“There are concerns that the interest to sittings is low. Unmotivated members prefer going to their constituencies,” a source said.
It is emerging that the National Assembly could hold a special sitting on December 19 but it is coming out that the matter may not feature.
“It may not be part of the Dec 19 agenda if they don’t agree…it may take time for the sides to agree on one or two things,” another source said.
MPs row with SRC is protracted and straddles many years, with watchers pointing out that the “new team is just getting their baptism of fire before getting into office.”
“With the level of disagreements between the two, do you think MPs can leave the comfort of their recess to come approve a matter concerning SRC?” a concerned officer asked.
Since the inception of the 13th Parliament, which coincided with SRC’s abolition of duplicated allowances, MPs have not been entitled to plenary sitting allowances.
A five-hour long meeting at Safari Park, in the first week of September 2022, on the fresh demands for perks, ended in a deadlock.
At the time, the team which also had Amani Yuda, John Monyoncho, Leah Mumbua, Margaret Sawe, Elizabeth Muchiri and Peris Ashubwe, rejected the new demands.
The team declined reversing the gazette notice which set the new rates, which experts have argued are among the best globally.
It was resolved that the sticking issues would be handled administratively, but the dust of the same is yet to settle.
At the meeting, MPs expressed their displeasure at being forced to pay duty for car grants, limit their car engine capacity to 3,000cc and the withdrawn plenary allowances.
They also fought the reduction of mileage allowances from Sh187 per kilometre to Sh119. The charges prevailed.
Just days before the current MPs were sworn in, SRC abolished plenary allowances and introduced a Sh150,000 house allowance for MPs.
