Kenyan MPs will refund more than Ksh2.9 billion they illegally awarded themselves as house allowances, a court has ruled.
In a ruling on Thursday, December 10, Justices Weldon Korir, Pauline Nyamweya and John Mativo ordered the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) to deduct from the legislators' salaries within 12 months.
According to the records, the MPs collectively pocketed Ksh1.2 billion annually which translates to Ksh2.9 Billion since the first payment was made.
This means that each MP will refund taxpayers’ Ksh7.2 million.
The case emerged from a row between the PSC and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Attorney General Paul Kihara had previously told the court that the house allowance was paid the MPs without the approval of the SRC.
The MPs got Ksh250,000 in house allowances monthly - an amount which was backdated to October 5, 2018.
The AG told the court that the money translated to Ksh104 million every month for the taxpayers' pockets.
The AG, SRC, Law Society of Kenya (LSK), and activist Okiya Omtatah moved to the court to force PSC to deduct the money paid and return the same to the Treasury.
In his submissions, SRC’s lawyer Peter Wanyama stated that MPs bulldozed the commission to ratify 19 allowances for themselves and went ahead to slash the commission's budgetary allocation.
On the other hand, PSC urged the court to declare SRC’s 2013 Gazette notice on the MPs’ pay and allowances as unconstitutional.
"By seeking to reduce the remuneration for State officers serving in 12th Parliament, the respondent has acted unreasonably and failed to take into account the rising cost of living since the remuneration and benefits were set in 2013.
"They failed to take into account the principle of equal pay to work of equal value,” PSC argued at the time.
