The amount of money paid to Members of County Assemblies from June to December 2018 shot up to Ksh1 billion.
Nation reported that data from the Controller of Budget (CoB) revealed that sitting allowances paid to MCAs increased from Ksh422 during the same period in 2017.
A crunch of the figure shows that Ksh1 billion payout was an increase of 156 per cent.
The amount also represented 38 percent of the County Assemblies' total approved budget of 2.78 billion for the full year.
“The expenditure translated to 38.9 percent of the approved budget and an increase by 156.5 percent compared to a similar period last year when a total of Sh422 million was incurred,” said the Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo in the report.
The rise in allowances has caused concern that they gobble up much of county budgets with a minimal impact felt by residents.
In 2017, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission capped an MCA's sitting allowance at Ksh80,000 and limited the monthly pay to Ksh200,000.
However, in December 2018, the High Court restored the allowances and monthly payments to Ksh124,800 and Ksh300,000 respectively.
The Judges established that the SRC failed to study the labour market and conduct a comprehensive job evaluation a year before the pay review as the law demands.
“I hereby issue an order of certiorari bringing into this court the decision by the respondent contained in Gazette Notice No. 6518 of July 7, 2017 for the purposes of being quashed and the same is hereby quashed,” the judgment read.
