• ODM chairman John Mbadi sought to enhance pension payout for retired MPs.
• Lawmakers said to be living in squalor despite their contributions to public service.
Image: FILE
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday dealt a blow to hundreds of former MPs when he rejected a bid by Parliament to award retired lawmakers a lifetime pension.
The President declined to assent to the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2019 sponsored by Minority leader John Mbadi.
Mbadi’s legislation sought to finance an enhanced pension scheme for MPs who served between 1984 and 2001.
The National Assembly on August 4 voted to amend the retirement benefits law to award the ex-lawmakers a gratuity and a monthly pension for life.
The monthly pension for the more than 375 former MPs was to rise meteorically from the current low of Sh2,000 to as much as Sh100,000 monthly.
But President Kenyatta said there are challenges with implementing the proposal as the members were not contributing to pension at that rate.
He said members' pensions are calculated according to contributions paid to the scheme during their parliamentary term.
“The proposed amendment fails to provide for such calculation and makes no reference to the members’ contributions,” Uhuru said.
The President further posited that the Bill overlooked the mandate of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission under the Constitution.
SRC had rejected the bid to pay former MPs the perks with the President reiterating it was the commissions’ place to set and review benefits for all state officers including MPs.
President Kenyatta further said the pension payment would cost an average of Sh444 million shillings annually and risked staging similar demands by other retired public officers.
“The resultant ripple effect is unaffordable and fiscally unsustainable,” he said.
He has thus recommended to the National Assembly to delete the proposed amendment.
To overturn the President’s proposal, the National Assembly would be required to muster a quorum of 233 members.
An amendment whose effect overrides the President’s reservations or negates his proposed text would require two-thirds voting threshold, Muturi reminded the House in reference to his earlier ruling on a similar scenario.
Mbadi sponsored the Bill to take care of former MPs whom he said were currently “earning nothing but are entitled to pension perks”.
The ODM chairman said some of the former lawmakers are paid as low as Sh2,000 which can barely cater for their needs, more so healthcare.
The enhanced pension, he earlier said, was to cater to ageing Kenyans who served Parliament and need money for medication.
The Akilano Akiwumi task force in 2009 recommended enhanced monthly pension for former MPs and parliamentary staff.
The Cockar task force, formed in 2002, recommended that retired leaders who served from 1963 to 1983 be accorded Sh1 million ex-gratia.
The team advised that those who served after 1984 – following the enactment of the Parliamentary Pensions Act – get a pension.
Treasury had rejected the proposal on grounds there was no basis for increasing the pension to Sh100,000 as payment of benefits is based on salary.
It also warned that backdating the payments would amount to rewarding oneself for service not rendered.
It held that granting the increased payout would stretch the government’s pension contribution.
Treasury argued that any recovery from the proposal would attract 15 per cent interest "resulting in a large sum of money that may take many years to pay."
Treasury said retired MPs are no longer earning a salary as required under the Act and therefore may not contribute to the scheme.