• The MPs threatened a budget cut after SRC sued them for illegal allocation of house allowances.
• Treasury says despite the threats, the Commission's budget will not be affected.
Image: FILE
The National Treasury has assured the Salaries and Remuneration Commission that no one will touch its 2019/20 budget.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich on Thursday said the commission’s budget will not be affected by the threats by Members of Parliament.
The legislators had threatened to slash the commission’s budget after they were denied an allocation for house allowances.
While speaking during the launch of the Commission's strategic plan for the next five years, Rotich said; "As an independent commission, we will protect your allocations because you are helping the government in managing the wage bill."
Last month, SRC hit back at the legislators saying they irregularly awarded themselves Sh250,000 monthly house allowances.
Chairperson Lyn Mengich said SRC has the sole mandate of determining MPs' salaries and benefits. She faulted the Parliamentary Service Commission for purporting to okay the allowances.
The commission also raised concerns over the continued rise in the wage bill, hurting development plans.
MPs are hiding under the October 2018 judgment by justice Chacha Mwita who ruled that deputy governors just like other state officers are entitled to house allowance.
They awarded themselves the backdated allowance in the April pay.
Each of the 416 MPs received Sh2.25 million over and above their monthly pay in April being the backdated amount for the contentious allowance.
For both the Senate and National Assembly, taxpayers will now be shouldering an extra burden of Sh 104 million every month to house the legislators who already have a subsidized mortgage scheme.
MPs are already entitled to Sh20 million mortgage charged at three per cent.
The commission has so far filed a suit against the legislators.
But National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi criticised SRC for going to court over the controversial Sh250,000 house allowances.
Muturi said government institutions should choose dialogue whenever there is a dispute between them.
Muturi said court cases involving government institutions against each other are a waste of public money in legal fees.
“We should ask what the rationale of a government institution going to court against each other. Have efforts of consultation failed? Has as any effort of trying to solve the dispute amicably been made before going to court?” Muturi said.