Your favourite MPs now want to be served tea by five-star catering staff at their beck and call as they recline in their seats, supervised by a public health specialist.
In the evening after a hard-day’s work, they will stretch out in their revamped gym to the soft and tender touches of blind masseurs.
Besides the five-star bar services with continental and traditional cuisines, and top-of-the-range 4WD cars bought by you, they also want a facelift to their glittering offices.
But that will not be good enough. They want all these pleasures away from the stare of the electorate. Despite being a public facility, the MPs are lamenting the increased number of visitors to Parliament and sharing their common areas like lifts, internet, toilets and lounges “with all and sundry”.
These are just some of the the luxuries that your MPs are pushing for as they move further away from the voters who elected them to serve.
“It's our submission that this report contains observations and recommendations which if well implemented would afford members humble time and efficiency in the delivery of their mandate,” reads a new report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday evening by Nyaribari Masaba MP Ezekiel Machogu.
The lavish demands come at a time most Kenyans are facing hard economic times amid increasing complaints of the value of 416 MPs to the taxpayer. Taxes on food items have gone up as the government seeks to plug he deficit in the multi-trillion budget.
The report by the National Assembly's Committee on Members' Service and Facilities recommends the car grants, allowances, mileage and mortgages be reviewed upwards.
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The committee chaired by Machogu concluded that the current Sh5 million car grants and Sh20 million mortgages are grossly inadequate.
“The Sh5 million car grant given to members is not sufficient to purchase a decent four-wheel-drive vehicle for use by MPs, given the terrain most members have to cover,” the committee wrote.
The car grant had been scrapped by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission but it was reinstated by the High Court in December last year.
“The existing allowances mileage, car grant and mortgage do not take cognizance of prevailing market rates...the salary given to MPS is not at par with salaries of other state officers such as judges and Cabinet Secretaries,” the report states.
FIVE-STAR
The committee reportedly bench-marked with the Parliament of the UK and the Northern Ireland Assembly before coming up with the recommendations.
The committee asked the Parliamentary Service Commission to hire chefs with professional qualifications similar to those in five-star hotels.
Besides, they want the Commission to employ a public health specialist to advise on food safety, hygiene and general cleanliness in the catering unit and other areas in Parliament.
They also want the catering unit decentralised to every building that houses MPs, and one restaurant for MPs only.
“The Commission to consider designating at least one restaurant as an exclusive dining point for members,” the report recommends.
If implemented, there would be a catering unit at the main Parliament Buildings, Continental House, County House and the Red Cross Building. There would also be a handy delivery system to their locations.
“The PSC to consider facilitating a van well-built with food regulations gadgets to be used for ferrying snacks, food and teas to committee rooms to Parliament Building,” the report says.
But in the event the PSC is unable to revamp the catering unit within 12 months, the MPs want the catering services outsourced “along the Northern Ireland Assembly model”.
STATURE
The lawmakers decried what they called poor-quality food, lack of Kenya's traditional foods on the menu and poor infrastructure and hospitality facilities worthy of their stature.
“The Parliamentary Service Commission should employ professional chefs comparable to requirements in five-star hotels in Nairobi. The commission should also consider employing a public health specialist to be advising on food safety, hygiene and general cleanliness in catering unit and other areas in Parliament,” the report says.
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They want the serjeant-at-arms to repulse guests at Parliament Buildings to avoid what they called crowding in the members’ lounge and any other part of the precincts.
The PSC, they recommend, should consider recruiting all officers who serve in the serjeants-at-arms offices only from the disciplined forces.
The MPs want a second gymnasium set up on the first ground floor in the new wing of Parliament.
The lawmakers claim the current facility is too small and called on the PSC to approve a policy allowing all MPs to enrol in a gym of their own, which is paid above Sh150,000 per member annually.
Currently, MPs are allowed to enrol in a gym of their choice, as a temporary measure, to the tune of Sh120,000 per year paid by Parliament.
On Wednesday, Nominated MP David Sankok (Jubilee) caused a stir in Parliament when he suggested that PSC should hire blind people to massage them in the gym.
Sankok said blind masseurs were simply the best.
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“We are asking Parliament to go to the Machakos School for the Blind and hire some of those people because they can do a better job,” said the legislator nominated by Jubilee to represent people with disabilities.
The MPs also want Parliament to extend parliamentary ICT services that include internet, research and hardware maintenance to their constituency offices.
They also want their health insurer put on notice. If there is no change within three months, the medical cover contract provided by Lions Healthcare Ltd and underwritten by Jubilee Insurance Ltd will be terminated.
The MPs lament the inordinate delay in pre-authorisation of claims by the firms.
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