MPs plea to continue earning illegal allowance rejected

Attorney General, Kihara Kariuki, has rejected the plea of Members of Parliament to continue earning illegal fees monthly.

During a court hearing, the AG told the court that the MPs will owe Kenyans billions of shillings by 2022.

Justices Weldon Korir, John Mativo, and Pauline Nyamweya had last year said the PSC had no power in allocating Ksh250, 000 as monthly allowance to each MP without authority from SRC.

Kenyans, in addition,  have been paying Ksh104 every month to MPs for the past 26 months.

Kariuki however says that it will be unfair for taxpayers to pay Members of Parliament billions of shillings illegally. He also added that Kenyans do not have guarantee that the MPs will be re-elected in 2022 for them to continue paying the debt.

The MPs were pleading to continue earning the illegal allowance that the hard working taxpayers are paying for without knowing.

In addition, the High Court had ordered the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to subtract allowances they had paid the MPs without approval from Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). PSC appealed to the Court’s order arguing the MPs will find it hard to carry out their legislative work.

However, AG Kariuki says the MPs will lose nothing if the PSC recovers at least Ksh1.2 billion it gave to the MPs illegally. He also said that nothing will stop them from performing their functions.