MCAs hard hit that has devastated the salaries and renumeration commission

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Do you have an idea how Kenya can get rid of the huge debt on its back and expenditure it can’t afford?Well the public should hold this discussions to find solutions because it seems our budget is continuously increasing SRC’s latest hit.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), the body mandated by the Constitution to set and review salaries of state and public officers, has suffered a major setback in its ongoing efforts to tame ballooning public wage bill.

This is after a court on Wednesday, December 12, threw out a Gazette Notice Number 6518 of July 7, 2017, which had slashed allowances of Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) by about KSh 900 million.

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While delivering his ruling at the High Court, Justice George Odunga said SRC’s decision to reduce allowances of the Ward Representatives did not comply with the law.

“I hereby issue an order of certiorari bringing into this court the decision by the respondent contained in Gazette Notice No. 6518 of July 7, 2017 for the purposes of being quashed and the same is hereby quashed,” Odunga ruled.

The petition challenging the now quashed gazette notice was filed by the Kakamega County Assembly Service Board and the County Government of Kakamega which argued the SRC’s 2017 salary review was not done in accordance with the law.

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The MCAs used to received total of KSh 2.3 billion in allowances before the pay cut. The amount dropped to KSh 1.4 billion after the SRC’s downward review according to the Controller of Budget reports.

In one of the cases filed in January 8, 2018, through the County Assemblies Forum (CAF), their coordinating body, they put up a spirited fight to reverse the pay cut terming the salaries commission decision to slash their wages and benefits as arbitrary and unreasonable.

The Ward Reps further argued the pay review violated their right to annual salary increment, transport, mortgage, and other allowances extended to all State officers.

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They also held that SRC’s move had a negative impact on the functioning of devolution in the 47 counties and pleaded with the court to provide legal guidance, especially regarding the jurisdiction of SRC within the county governments.

Awhile back, Kakamega MCAs  sued the Speaker, Clerk and other senior staff at the County Assembly for failing to disburse Sh3 million meant for each MCA as mortgage benefit and car loan.

The petition filed by three MCAs and signed by 67 others in support seeked orders compelling the respondents disburse the money with immediate effect.

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