Lawmakers set for talks on allowances dispute with SRC

Members of the National Assembly and Senate are expected to hold a joint Speaker’s Kamukunji tomorrow to take a position on the controversy surrounding their house allowances.

The meeting comes just days after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) challenged the decision to pay MPs a house allowance in court.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi invited the MPs and Senators for the informal sitting on the day the members of the National Assembly resumed sitting after a long recess.

“The meeting is intended to find an opportunity to brief members and staff of the ongoing dispute between SRC and Parliamentary Service Commission. This Kamukunji will also involve Senators,” he said as the MPs applauded him.

But even as Mr Muturi made the announcement he noted that Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma had also written to him requesting that a Kamukunji be held.

“Mr Kaluma has raised pertinent issues in the letter to the speaker and we will find out what the issues he has raised are,” he said.

Last month, the 416 members of the two Houses were paid a Sh250,000 monthly house allowance that was backdated to October 5, 2018, the day High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ruled that deputy governors and other State officers are entitled to a house or an allowance.

The ruling saw the SRC secretly write to the county governors requesting them to facilitate their deputies with a house or an allowance.

The MPs are recognised under the Constitution as State officers alongside the President, Deputy President, Cabinet secretaries, judges, PSs and members of the constitutional commissions as well as independent offices.

However, the Lyn Mengich-led SRC has challenged the matter in court saying it is illegal and that the lawmakers should be compelled to return the cash.