The Parliamentary Service Commission now says the Sh250,000 paid to MPs is not house allowance but per diem for accommodation.
PSC filed its response in court in a case where activist Okiya Omtatah is seeking to stop the SRC and PSC from paying any house allowance to the MPs.
However PSC has denied any wrong doing, insisting it is carrying out its mandate of taking care of the MPs.
In an affidavit sworn by PSC secretary Jeremiah Nyengene, the commission says it has a constitutional mandate of providing services and facilities to MPs to ensure the efficient and effective performance of legislative functions.
He says it came to their attention that several MPs have been unable to perform their legislative roles effectively due to unavailability of accommodation within Nairobi.
They considered the fact that MPs must have two permanent residences while in office, one in their constituencies where and the other in Nairobi where parliamentary sessions are conducted.
On March 12 this year, the select committee on members' services and facilities presented its sixth report, read court documents.
The report noted that the MPs were in dire need of accommodation in the course of performing their legislative duties.
PSC claims the vast majority of MPs hail from areas far from Parliament in Nairobi and it would be impractical and very expensive to expect them to commute daily to work.
“Several MPs were therefore being denied a chance to attend to their legislative duties as they were unable to afford accommodation within Nairobi for all their scheduled parliamentary sessions,” Nyengene argues.
PSC resolved to pay the MPs a domestic per diem for accommodation.
“It is instructive to point out that what was resolved to pay to MPs was accommodation facilitation to enable them perform their legislative functions efficiently and effectively and not a house allowance. It is reflected in commission paper No 1152A,” the commission says.
Further, they argue the MPs being state officers under Article 260 of the Constitution and employees of the state under the Employment Act 2007 have a right to be provided with a housing benefit and ought not to be discriminated against.
PSC relied on a judgement by Justice Chacha Mwita which held that state officers are entitled to house allowance.
In the judgment, the Council of Governors had sued SRC over their decision not to pay housing allowance to deputy governors.
Judge Mwita ruled that deputy governors though state officers have been left out in housing.
Justice Weldon Korir has extended orders barring the PSC from paying the MPs any house allowance until the case is heard and determined.
