Marc Lacey | The New York Times | May 22, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/22/news/kenya.php
It has been a trying year in Kenya, one of the worst in decades, as
a severe drought killed crops and cattle and left millions with
empty stomachs and uncertain futures.
In the midst of such suffering, members of the Kenyan Parliament
have been roused to action as seldom before, finding common ground
on an issue so pressing that they threatened to stonewall the budget
until it was addressed: another big increase in their compensation.
The move last month to reward themselves in a time of crisis
infuriated Kenyan voters, most of whom scrape out a living on a
small fraction of what their elected officials earn. It also
reinforced the notion that this was a political drought, one that
owed its origins as much to mismanagement in a country that should
be able to feed itself as to the vagaries of nature.
"They are greedy," said Jackson Ndungu, 50, a computer programmer
who offered one of the milder critiques one can hear on the streets
of Nairobi. "They are out only for themselves."
Their reputation as fat cats did not come out of thin air. After
coming into office in 2003 promising to reform an out-of-touch,
authoritarian government, they squandered much of the public good
will with their very first vote: It quadrupled their annual salaries.
Then they really got to work, voting to give themselves low-interest
car and home loans, generous health insurance and retirement
packages. As for other types of legislation, the record has been
rather mixed, with fewer than a dozen bills becoming laws each year.
Kenya is a place where members of Parliament are expected to dole
out cash to their constituents, and that is one of the
justifications that legislators use to increase their own benefits.
They say they frequently pay out of their pockets for funerals,
school costs and other expenses associated with the people back
home. They also contend that Kenyans expect their elected officials
to dress well, live well and drive a car that is not a clunker.
The legislative branch of the government is flexing its muscles
after years of being sidelined by an all-powerful head of state.
"What we are witnessing in Kenya is the rise of Parliament as a
force to be reckoned with in the governance equation after 40 years
of being a more or less a rubber stamp for the executive," said Marc
Cassidy, a U.S.-financed democracy adviser to the Parliament.
Still, some say the legislators have lost touch with the poor
districts they represent. The Kenyan per capita income is about $463
a year, which nobody here would expect a lawmaker to survive on.
Minimum wage is $924 a year, still far too little, in most Kenyans'
view, for someone taking care of the nation's business.
But the base compensation that legislators earn is about $81,000 a
year, tax free, plus a variety of allowances and perks, which can
effectively double their take-home pay. That means these public
servants earn more than most Kenyan corporate executives and also
outstrip the salaries of many of their counterparts in the developed
world.
"They are behaving like we are rich and as if there's no famine and
poverty in the country," Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National
Commission of Human Rights, complained to The Daily Nation newspaper
recently. "They want to make as much money as they can."
The latest increase to their pay packages, which cost the country
$2.78 million, nearly doubled the mileage allowances that they
receive for their Mer- cedes, Land Rovers and other typically sleek
rides. They will now receive a monthly lump sum of $4,719 to cover
the first 350 kilometers, or 220 miles, they drive. After that, they
will take in another $1.60 per kilometer, significantly more than
ordinary Kenyans can claim as deductions on their tax forms.
The mileage allowance was particularly galling to Kenyans, most of
whom struggle mightily to make ends meet, because it was approved
while a severe drought ravages the country.
To get the car allowances, the legislators threatened to block a
vote on the government budget, including a provision that provided
aid to the 3.5 million people facing food shortages.
Also raising the ire of Kenyans was an explanation that politicians
offered for needing the additional cash: The shoddy Kenyan road
network increases the cost for them to get back and forth from their
districts to the capital.
"Fix the roads" has been the unanimous response from the populace.
Days after awarding themselves the mileage allowance, the
legislators increased their constituency development funds, which
are accounts that each lawmaker receives for projects close to home.
Though popular among the public, the funds have been criticized for
promoting cronyism and pork projects.
All this controversy came at a particularly uncomfortable time for
Kenyan legislators, who earlier this month were hosts for the annual
meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which brought lawmakers
from throughout the world to Nairobi to discuss the issues of the
day.
The Kenyan lawmakers offered a solution to their woes. They pleaded
with the media to keep quiet about their salaries while their
visitors, many of whom are more poorly paid than the Kenyans, were
in town.
"We should keep our dirty linen in the wardrobe for the duration of
the meeting, as they do elsewhere in the world," said Andrew Ligale,
the head of the Kenyan organizing committee for the conference.
But the press did not take the suggestion. Front pages devoted
considerable attention to the controversy.
"We have a very strong, selfish and indulgent Parliament that is
only united when milking the Exchequer," The Standard said in an
editorial at the start of the conference.
By the end of the conference, another front page story surveyed the
salaries of many attendees at the conference and found Kenyan
lawmakers to be among the most highly paid in the world.
The speaker of Kenyan Parliament, Francis ole Kaparo, warned his
colleagues publicly the other day that if they continued to focus
more attention on themselves than on the country's business they
would surely be voted out.
"People aren't fools," Kaparo said. "People follow what they do, and
if they don't stay in line with their constituents they will not be
re-elected."
Still, some good may come out of this. There is talk of creating an
outside commission to decide parliamentary salaries, taking the
issue out of the hands of the beneficiaries.
Until that time, though, lawmakers are watching their backs. One
threatened to vote for the ouster of the Kenyan president, Mwai
Kibaki, if he tries to eliminate the constituent development funds,
which give lawmakers the ability to decide spending priorities
themselves. Another has proposed censuring the speaker for daring to
criticize the legislators' pay, not to mention their penchant for
extended recesses.
"He should not play inaccurate populist politics just for the
expediency of the moment," said Otino Kajwang, who contends he and
other legislators work hard for the good of the country and deserve
every bit of pay they get.
NAIROBI It has been a trying year in Kenya, one of the worst in
decades, as a severe drought killed crops and cattle and left
millions with empty stomachs and uncertain futures.
In the midst of such suffering, members of the Kenyan Parliament
have been roused to action as seldom before, finding common ground
on an issue so pressing that they threatened to stonewall the budget
until it was addressed: another big increase in their compensation.
The move last month to reward themselves in a time of crisis
infuriated Kenyan voters, most of whom scrape out a living on a
small fraction of what their elected officials earn. It also
reinforced the notion that this was a political drought, one that
owed its origins as much to mismanagement in a country that should
be able to feed itself as to the vagaries of nature.
"They are greedy," said Jackson Ndungu, 50, a computer programmer
who offered one of the milder critiques one can hear on the streets
of Nairobi. "They are out only for themselves."
Their reputation as fat cats did not come out of thin air. After
coming into office in 2003 promising to reform an out-of-touch,
authoritarian government, they squandered much of the public good
will with their very first vote: It quadrupled their annual salaries.
Then they really got to work, voting to give themselves low-interest
car and home loans, generous health insurance and retirement
packages. As for other types of legislation, the record has been
rather mixed, with fewer than a dozen bills becoming laws each year.
Kenya is a place where members of Parliament are expected to dole
out cash to their constituents, and that is one of the
justifications that legislators use to increase their own benefits.
They say they frequently pay out of their pockets for funerals,
school costs and other expenses associated with the people back
home. They also contend that Kenyans expect their elected officials
to dress well, live well and drive a car that is not a clunker.
The legislative branch of the government is flexing its muscles
after years of being sidelined by an all-powerful head of state.
"What we are witnessing in Kenya is the rise of Parliament as a
force to be reckoned with in the governance equation after 40 years
of being a more or less a rubber stamp for the executive," said Marc
Cassidy, a U.S.-financed democracy adviser to the Parliament.
Still, some say the legislators have lost touch with the poor
districts they represent. The Kenyan per capita income is about $463
a year, which nobody here would expect a lawmaker to survive on.
Minimum wage is $924 a year, still far too little, in most Kenyans'
view, for someone taking care of the nation's business.
But the base compensation that legislators earn is about $81,000 a
year, tax free, plus a variety of allowances and perks, which can
effectively double their take-home pay. That means these public
servants earn more than most Kenyan corporate executives and also
outstrip the salaries of many of their counterparts in the developed
world.
"They are behaving like we are rich and as if there's no famine and
poverty in the country," Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National
Commission of Human Rights, complained to The Daily Nation newspaper
recently. "They want to make as much money as they can."
The latest increase to their pay packages, which cost the country
$2.78 million, nearly doubled the mileage allowances that they
receive for their Mer- cedes, Land Rovers and other typically sleek
rides. They will now receive a monthly lump sum of $4,719 to cover
the first 350 kilometers, or 220 miles, they drive. After that, they
will take in another $1.60 per kilometer, significantly more than
ordinary Kenyans can claim as deductions on their tax forms.
The mileage allowance was particularly galling to Kenyans, most of
whom struggle mightily to make ends meet, because it was approved
while a severe drought ravages the country.
To get the car allowances, the legislators threatened to block a
vote on the government budget, including a provision that provided
aid to the 3.5 million people facing food shortages.
Also raising the ire of Kenyans was an explanation that politicians
offered for needing the additional cash: The shoddy Kenyan road
network increases the cost for them to get back and forth from their
districts to the capital.
"Fix the roads" has been the unanimous response from the populace.
Days after awarding themselves the mileage allowance, the
legislators increased their constituency development funds, which
are accounts that each lawmaker receives for projects close to home.
Though popular among the public, the funds have been criticized for
promoting cronyism and pork projects.
All this controversy came at a particularly uncomfortable time for
Kenyan legislators, who earlier this month were hosts for the annual
meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which brought lawmakers
from throughout the world to Nairobi to discuss the issues of the
day.
The Kenyan lawmakers offered a solution to their woes. They pleaded
with the media to keep quiet about their salaries while their
visitors, many of whom are more poorly paid than the Kenyans, were
in town.
"We should keep our dirty linen in the wardrobe for the duration of
the meeting, as they do elsewhere in the world," said Andrew Ligale,
the head of the Kenyan organizing committee for the conference.
But the press did not take the suggestion. Front pages devoted
considerable attention to the controversy.
"We have a very strong, selfish and indulgent Parliament that is
only united when milking the Exchequer," The Standard said in an
editorial at the start of the conference.
By the end of the conference, another front page story surveyed the
salaries of many attendees at the conference and found Kenyan
lawmakers to be among the most highly paid in the world.
The speaker of Kenyan Parliament, Francis ole Kaparo, warned his
colleagues publicly the other day that if they continued to focus
more attention on themselves than on the country's business they
would surely be voted out.
"People aren't fools," Kaparo said. "People follow what they do, and
if they don't stay in line with their constituents they will not be
re-elected."
Still, some good may come out of this. There is talk of creating an
outside commission to decide parliamentary salaries, taking the
issue out of the hands of the beneficiaries.
Until that time, though, lawmakers are watching their backs. One
threatened to vote for the ouster of the Kenyan president, Mwai
Kibaki, if he tries to eliminate the constituent development funds,
which give lawmakers the ability to decide spending priorities
themselves. Another has proposed censuring the speaker for daring to
criticize the legislators' pay, not to mention their penchant for
extended recesses.
"He should not play inaccurate populist politics just for the
expediency of the moment," said Otino Kajwang, who contends he and
other legislators work hard for the good of the country and deserve
every bit of pay they get.
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