Homa Bay Member of Parliament Peter Kaluma, while appearing on NTV’s show Sidebar on Tuesday evening, claimed that Kenyan MPs were the lowest paid in the world.
The MP's comments did not go down well with most Kenyans who took to social media to criticize him over what they termed as comments that were insulting the overburdened citizens.
The legislator was defending the decision of the Parliamentary Service Commission to allocate the house an additional Ksh 250,000 as house allowances.
Netizens took to social media to tear into the MP's explanation of why he claimed that the legislators were being paid the lowest in the world.
He went ahead to compare Kenyan lawmakers' salaries with that of the Indian August house.
“What sort of mockery is this?? Kenya is among the highest paid MPs in the world despite Kenya being a developing country,” Kamaa Njoroge wrote.
Others asked the MP to relinquish his seat in the August house if he felt dissatisfied with the salary he was earning.
“He can as well resign. No one forced him to become an MP. Absolute rubbish. I’d rather spend the day watching a cow eat grass than listen to this guys,” Vosena Kibisu expressed his frustration.
Some Kenyans told off Kaluma asking him not to compare the country's economy with first world countries in his bid to justify salary increment.
“He should be ashamed of himself. He is learned enough to know that in comparison with the country's GDP, they are among the highest paid in the world,” noted Gathage Mwangi.
Some chose to troll the legislator by posting sarcastic comments about his explanation.
“Sure. The MPs are the lowest paid even domestically. Look how the teachers are highly paid.. Kwanza angalia polisi (First of all check out our police force)..they are paid a lot of money,” stated Lewis Mugambi.
