Any retirement benefits that accrue to a person, especially civil servants, are based on one thing: Whether the civil servant contributes to a mandatory pension scheme–by law, or a private one.
Parliamentarians are given the two options.
The question we should ask therefore is, were those former MPs members of a pension scheme? If yes, did they make contributions? You cannot introduce a pension scheme for a retiree who was not a member of one in the first place.
In the United States, there is no special scheme for congressmen. Their Public Service Employee Pension Scheme is mandatory for all members. Members of the Senate and House of Representatives can choose the available categories depending on how much one wants to contribute. They have no special pension scheme for the various categories of public servants, as is our case.
I find it weird that we may pass a law that would be applied retrospectively to people who never contributed to a pension scheme. What will you do with MCAs now that former councillors are also demanding pension? What would be the basis? Are we not opening a Pandora's box?
This issue raises so many legal questions. How can you initiate a pension scheme for people who were supposed to be members of one that never existed in the first place? At the same time, MPs have a clear limited timeline, they are not civil servants; so how do you become beneficiaries of a lifetime pension?
MPs know from the word go, when they get elected, that their term is limited to five years. This does not guarantee one a pension. A pension scheme for members is defined by the law.
This also raises a fundamental question of discrimination. Why would an MP who served a five-year term enjoy a lifetime of pension? If, for instance, you contest at 35 and lose at 40, how do you qualify for pension yet you are not even 55?
How did they arrive at Sh100,000? What will they do with the current MCAs, who also don’t have a pension scheme? We must stop this idea of engaging in public looting if we are to succeed in curbing unnecessary spending.
The Executive Director, International Centre for Policy and Conflict, spoke to the Star
