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Big pay rise
for councillors as vote bribery row rages
Story by MUGO NJERU
NATION, Nairobi
Publication Date: 10/7/2005
Councillors countrywide were given
a hefty pay rise plus the promise of free life insurance yesterday,
even as the Government was being accused yet again of making a
series of concessions aimed at bribing voters to support the
proposed new Constitution.
Hon. Kombo. Photo by
File |
As Local
Government minister Musikari Kombo was revealing the pay
rise for councillors in Nairobi, his Cabinet colleague John
Michuki was announcing that chiefs and assistant chiefs will
be sent letters next week confirming they will still have
jobs even if the new proposals which abolish the Provincial
Administration are accepted.
The two ministers announced
increases of between 50 and 100 per cent to councillors plus
the job guarantee letters just six weeks before the
referendum on the Constitution, set for November 21.
The rises will take effect
this month – and Mr Kombo even promised to consider a
request by the councillors that their generous rises should
be backdated three moths to July. |
The moves came in spite of mounting
criticism that the latest steps by the Government to hand out
favours to targeted groups and communities was an unfair way of
winning support for the proposed new law.
And the pay awards and letters to
chiefs drew instant criticism from the Orange group.
Kanu secretary general William Ruto
said: "These actions amount to abuse of office and those
behind them will be held accountable."
He recalled that the same
government opposed a motion in Parliament three months ago that
would have transferred payment of salaries for councillors to the
central government.
"It does not require an
intelligent person to know that the increases are aimed to
influence councillors to support the new Constitution," he
said.
And on the chiefs' letters, he
commented: "Those are mere papers, they will not amend what
is in the Constitution if it becomes law."
Land deeds
Other favours cited by the Orange
team, which opposes the proposed Constitution, include stripping
Amboseli national park of its gazetted status and handing it over
to Ol Kejuado county council; the U-turn cancelling the order
barring the sub-division of land below two-and-half acres; and the
resettlement of 10,000 people evicted from Mau-Narok, plus the
granting of land deeds to the Ogiek community.
Also there was were complaints when
some MPs used Government vehicles for the Banana Yes-vote campaign,
and for the rescinding the decision to evict 3,000 squatters from
the Kipkurere forest.
In addition, MP Kalembe Ndile
announced in Kibwezi, Ukambani, that about 2,000 squatters had
been given 15,000 acres.
Allotment letters for the land
would be issued this month and titles given shortly after that,
said Mr Ndile.
However, he said the Government
allocated the land four months ago, long before the referendum
debate began.
He has also asked the Government to
return Chyulu National Park to the county council, the same way it
handed back Amboseli.
The pay rises that will benefit all
3,800 councillors in Kenya will see the lowest paid ( town
councillors) taking home Sh14,000 a month – up from Sh7,000 –
while the highest paid will pocket Sh79,000, after an increase of
Sh20,000.
"I have not done this with any
ulterior motive, as I have been accused, but coincidentally I
could not shelve this with or without the referendum," Mr
Kombo said to the applause of scores of mayors and council
chairmen who went to his Nairobi office for the announcement.
County councillors who used to get
Sh10,000 will now take home Sh20,000, except for those in Mombasa,
Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru, who will receive Sh30,000 a month, up
from Sh15,000.
Councillors in Nairobi received the
lowest percentage rise, but will still take home a far fatter
package. Each will now pocket an extra Sh20,000 with the lowest
amount they will take home being Sh79,000 up from Sh59,000.
Entire package
Mr Kombo said the Government
recognised the crucial role the councillors played at the
grassroots and hence the need to reward them accordingly.
"It is due to this that that
the Government has been undertaking a comprehensive programme on
their welfare which started even before I moved too the ministry,"
he said.
A task force headed by former
Nairobi mayor Joe Aketch, who is also the current chairman of the
Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya (ALGAK),
completed its findings and handed the report to him in August.
Mr Kombo said: "Apart from the
allowances, they also looked at the entire package for councillors
who were found not to be insured and there is nothing for their
families should anything happened to them while on duty, which has
now been addressed."
Mr Kombo said the allowances would
be paid by the local authorities through supplementary budgets.
"Although you have been
wanting increase in your allowances to come from the Consolidated
Fund, it was found this will take time and other avenues under my
powers had to be explored and this is what we have come up with
for the time being," he explained.
Mr Kombo went on to dismiss
criticism of the awards during a campaign period as "misguided".
"Government programmes cannot
wait for the referendum and even those accusing me of all manner
of things in Western province should be dismissed with the
contempt they deserve as they are panicking after realising that
people from the region were not in their camp," he said.
Immediately after the announcement,
Mr Aketch thanked the Government, which he assured of the total
support of councillors.
The former mayor said more than 85
per cent of councillors had already resolved to vote for the
proposed Constitution and he criticised people in the Orange team
for saying the Government was compromising the civic leaders'
consciences.
Mr Aketch said those criticising
the Government for improving their welfare were the same people
who opposed a move to raise councillors allowances, while they
went ahead and voted themselves huge salaries in Parliament.
Additional reporting by LUCAS
BARASA
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