The Jubilee administration has plans to retrench at least
40,000 civil servants in the New Year as a way of tackling the public service
wage bill. This sits in great contrast to MPs’ determined effort to bring back
higher pay packages for themselves.
Legislators have challenged the now-defunct Salaries and
Remunerations Commission Kenya Gazette notice that reduced their salaries from
Sh710,000 per month and scrapped their allowances on July 7 to court.
The SRC lowering of MPs’ pay package came after a major
evaluation of their work.
The MPs’ restoration of their princely pay packages will see
them paid hefty allowances from this month and retroactive perks.
Kenya’s 416 MPs and senators will get paid more money until
the case in court, which begins on January 29, is heard and determined.
As the 40,000 civil servants are retrenched and their tens
of thousands of dependents suffer, they and other Kenyans will be watching the
MPs feast on their self-awarded windfall.
The term “MPigs with their snouts in
the trough” will come powerfully to mind.
