Lyn Cherop has been sworn in as the new Salaries and Remuneration Commission chairperson.
Lyn takes over from Sarah Serem, who left the office on December 15, 2017 after six years at the helm.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on September 13 appointed Lyn alongside Dalmas Otieno, Leah Mumbua, John Monyoncho, Margaret Sawe, Amani Yuda Komora, Sophie Moturi, and Peris Ashubwe as SRC commissioners.
Uhuru had initially nominated former Kenya Power CEO Ben Chumo as chairperson before he was rejected by MPs owing to an ongoing corruption investigation.
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During their vetting on August 24, Lyn and Dalmas indicated that they could open a new window to renegotiate MPs’ pay.
Dalmas, on the other hand, dismissing talks that Kenyan MPs are the highest paid in the world,
said their current pay is nothing compared to voters’ high expectations of them.
“None has bothered to consider the nature of the MPs’ job. MPs still have to maintain retinues of supporters and people who believe anything can be done by their Mps,” he said.
MPs had previously faulted the former chairperson of unfairly reducing their allowances and salaries from Sh710,000 to Sh621,250.
They accused her of
not being a team player and having poor negotiation skills that contributed to the many cases of industrial action that the country has seen.
Serem who is currently serving as Kenya's ambassador to
China also scrapped Sh5 million car grant, Sh5,000 per committee sitting and House plenary allowances for the legislatures.
She defended the commission saying it managed to develop a remuneration and benefits policy to ensure for fair pay consideration.
High Court judge George Odunga, however, temporarily barred the commission from implementing the new salaries.
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