A High Court ruling made on Monday may have raised a chance for members of parliament (MPs) and members of county assembly (MCAs) to reinstate sitting allowance.
The ruling made by Justice Chacha Mwita returned a meeting allowance for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that had been scraped off by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
SRC scraped off the allowance in a bid to cut down on expenditure. SRC had also capped the number of sittings JSC, which is chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga, could have in a month to eight.
Both decisions were challenged in court with the petitioners claiming that the SRC had overstepped in its mandate and interfered with the independence of the Judiciary arm of government.
"SRC can only set the remuneration for JSC but cannot set the number of paid sittings they have since that will be attempting to interfere with our administrative independence. In any event, SRC can only review benefits of State officers, but not independent constitutional offices," the judge ruled.
[caption caption="High Court Justice Chacha Mwita at the bench during a past hearing"]
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With the cutbacks, every JSC member was entitled to Ksh1 Million every month for having eight sittings, saving Ksh8 Billion form the annual wage bill.
Justice Mwita's ruling is likely to send the MPs and MCAs to court to seek similar orders to reinstate their own sitting allowances.
SRC had instituted a maximum of 16 meetings for committees with the chairpersons at the National Assembly earning Ksh160,000 each month, Ksh128,000 for vice-chairpersons and Ksh80,000 for members.
For committees at the county level, the chairperson was set to bag Ksh80,000 monthly, Ksh64,000 for the vice and Ksh48,000 for members.
"The respondent’s (SRC) mandate is limited to regulating salaries of civil servants. It, however, does not spread to regulating how the commissions operate.
"Parliament did not see it fit to limit the number of sittings, hence no other body can do the same. It is a mandate that the respondent does not have and it flies in the face of the Constitution and the law to cap the sittings," the judge directed.
[caption caption="CJ David Maraga leads fellow members of JSC in a presser where they condemned cuts on the Judiciary budget"]
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