Members of Parliament are in a silent go-slow to protest the Parliamentary Service Commission’s failure to pay their allowances.
Some legislators have boycotted duties because they have not received sitting and mileage allowances for the past two months.
According to The Standard, several foreign trips by the lawmakers have been cancelled or pushed due to lack of financial facilitation.
ODM Chairperson John Mbadi is one of the legislators whose foreign trip has been postponed to February.
The energy committee is worst hit by the crisis as members have opted not to attend committee sittings.
“When we go for committee sittings nowadays we are not facilitated. Members are not given their sitting allowance,” Endebess MP Robert Pukose told parliament last week.
National Assembly Clerk Michael Sialai refuted the claims citing there was no cash crunch in parliament.
“We have no pending sitting or travel allowances perhaps those submitted this week which we are processing,” he stated.
He also noted that there are slight delays as new Central Bank of Kenya guidelines require allowances to be paid through bank accounts, not cash as before.
A committee chairperson who wished not to be named intimated there is a huge financial crisis in parliament.
“There is a problem in reimbursing members’ sitting allowance and the implication is that some members have lost interest in attending committee sittings,” the chairperson remarked.
