How low can you go?

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 2:36 PM

How do you protect a country from a corrupt legislature? This is the question that all Kenyans with an interest in the future of their country must begin to tackle.

Civil society and activists in Kenya, as in the rest of Africa, and indeed the rest of the world, are by default tuned to check the excesses of the executive branch of government as it is usually the one with the most power and where the majority of corruption originates.

Kenyans after decades of systematic wide spread corruption under the Moi regime and the less than rosy record of the current leadership have good reason to be wary of the executive. However what is becoming increasingly clear is that the legislature, the very body mandated to keep the executive in check, is becoming THE MAIN CAUSE of systematic officially approved corruption in our nation.

A change on focus is required. Let me be clear, I am not talking only about MPs who support the government or MPs who stand in opposition. I am talking about the whole lot, the legislature as a body, all of them, together, as a collective, are symbolic of greed of the highest order. The latest example, the disgusting pay rises MPs are threatening to award themselves.

Where do we even start with these Members’ of Parliament in Kenya? These days I rarely get shocked and angry about Kenyan politics, not because there is nothing to get shocked and angry about but because we have seen it all before. This parliament, the most educated parliament we have ever had, is a disappointment beyond words. This latest proposed pay package they are threatening to award themselves is disgusting. Nothing more nothing else.

From The Daily Nation

At a time when Kenyans are being told to tighten their belts; when urgent development projects are on hold for lack of funds; when workers in key sectors in the public service are being denied the pay rises they deserve, it becomes not just heartless, but criminal, when MPs award themselves hefty sums at will.

Criminal indeed.

For a comprehensive view of just how disgusting this is read the following excellent post on the Mars Group blog.

Our view is that it is criminal for 222 MPs in the 9th Parliament to conspire against over-burdened Kenyan taxpayers by plotting to award each other Ksh 1.4 billion - an amount equivalent to the annual disbursement under the famous Youth Fund; which was intended to raise 79.1% of the population of Kenya who are youth out of poverty. 222 MPs want to award themselves an amount equivalent to what they gave to 21,248,984 Kenyan youth. A shocking example of raw greed.

Yes MPs want to award themselves the same amount of money they felt fit for ALL the youth in Kenya.

What is even more disgusting is the underhand way in which the government (as it is the one which proposed the bill) tried to sneak this past us hiding it us an amendment to an existing Miscellaneous Amendments Bill. Disgusting and underhand. What was even more disgusting was how our MPs, having heard that their allowances were to be voted on, all trooped into the chamber, and when then realised the Attorney General was not present and the matter could not go to the vote, all trooped out. Did it not cross their minds that they could actually sit and contribute to a debate that was not centred on their pay packages?

MPs MUST reject this proposal if it ever comes up in parliament. It will be impossible to take seriously ANY MP who supports this proposal; leave alone complete muppets like Madoka who thinks it is too LITTLE!

He said the commission had gone around the country and that Kenyans had given their views, saying their MPs’ pay should be increased and that they should receive a gratuity so that they could live a good life after Parliament.

LIES! Which Kenyan today, who knows how much these MPs are paid, thinks MPs are paid too little? Disgusting lies!

Yesterday lobbyists Ann Njogu, Okoiti Omtatah, Mwalimu Mati and Vicky Mbeca were arrested when police intercepted the demonstrators on Parliament Road and fired three tear gas canisters at them. Release them now.

A national conversation needs to start immediately on how to protect our country from our parliament.

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