Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei on Thursday, July 6, proposed that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) be transformed into a part-time body in response to the existing salary disparities among public officers.
While speaking during the grilling of the Lyn Mengich led-Commission by the Senate Devolution Committee in Nairobi, the second-term senator opined that the body needed to be regulated owing to their hefty salaries and allowances.
Cherargei lamented that the commissioners were raking in hefty salaries and car allowances amounting to millions without proper justification.
He particularly took issue with the fact that some commissioners were earning Ksh150,000 as a house allowance which exceeded the gross salary earned by Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs).
"You give yourself a Toyota of Ksh10 to Ksh15 million yet you stay in Nairobi where there are good roads. Do you know there are wards you cannot access with Ksh2 million cars?
"SRC must be called to order. You are not law onto yourself. I think going forward, we must make SRC part-time. We cannot tolerate this," he stated.
Conversely, he called out the commission for occasionally turning the public against politicians through proposals to increase the salaries of state officers.
According to Cherargei, none of the state officers in the national government had asked for a pay rise.
Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga echoed Cherargei's comments acknowledging that the MCAs were underpaid despite being tasked with vital roles such as county government oversight and keeping governors in check.
The senator explained that the salary imbalance between the governors and the MCAs posed a threat to accountability on the use of public resources.
"How do you expect someone to oversight another person who is earning 10 times more than them?
"Their (MCAs) responsibility is not just sitting allowance. Don't think they just work when they sit in the assembly and the committees," Oburu stated.
In the proposed salaries for 2023-2025, MCAs will earn Ksh164,588. The ward representatives currently take home Ksh144,375.
During the Senate hearing, MCA representatives proposed a Ksh369,600 monthly pay for county legislators.
Initially, SRC had proposed to increase the salaries of President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua by 14 per cent but the two declined the salaries citing imbalances in public service remuneration.
