What our MP-igs Are Really Worth

There has been a major uproar as Kenyan MPs for the umpteenth time award themselves hefty salary increases. While most are making noise that the money is too much, nobody is really saying how much they ought to be paid. I have therefore decided to ponder on how an MP's payslip should really look like. Here is my take (in Ksh):



Basic salary:
200,000 (same an average program manager in an NGO operating in a bigger area than a constituency)

Allowances:
Travel = 16,000(4,000 per weekend using public transport, in most places they will still have change if they use the 14 seater matatus)
Phone & communication allowances = 0 (this is why people work for a salary)
Seating allowances = 0 (their job is to 'seat' in the House and discuss issues)
Entertainment Allowances = 6,000 (Enough for one to stack some crates of soda in the House, a few packets of biscuits and even some chang'aa now that it is being legalized)
Housing = 0 (that is why we get salaries, so that we can pay rent)
Schooling for kids = same as above

Others:
15% of the salaries contributed to the pension scheme (and they can't access it until they retire like the rest of us) = 30,000
Car Loans = 0 (they can apply for unsecured loans from commercial banks like the rest of us, Govt will provide letters confirming that they work in parliament)
Health = insurance paid directly for employee, wife and 2 children (preferably cheapest option from Resolution Health)

We are talking of approximately 250,000 here which is subjected to tax (you they will take home about190,000 thereabouts- someone can do the maths) and we can throw in a 10% increase every year subject to performance appraisal. Your constituents must give the go-ahead by more than 50% for you to get the increase. I do believe that this will be very generous given the fact that the work does not call for a lot of qualifications, one should just be able to speak English and Swahili at a basic level!

Why Are We Sanitizing Moi?

Is it just me or are we on a mission to clean-up Moi? I have noticed that the chap has once more become a feature on our screens, especially KTN and is all over preaching peace and reconcialition, telling us how to get out of the mess that he and his cronies created in the first place. To cap it all, the bugger was a keynote speaker in the "Kenya We Want" forum held recently. He had the powers to help create the Kenya we want for 24 years when he was at the helm. How can Moi of all the people tell us about the future (when he is not going to be there?)!

We talk about a culture of impunity but Kenynas are very quick to rehabilitate our bad men. I know that maybe our current lot are making Moi's stuff look like kids play but we should not forget the fact that the guy was dictator, freedoms that we got during his tenure was bought by blood. This country was looted dry, corruption became a way of life and we were managed by gluttons and murderers. We should not allow ourselves to forget these facts if we want to change this country, or else in the next election we shall be hailing the likes of Kiraitu and Ruto as our saviours. This might look farfetched now but in 2002 did we not cheer the likes of Saitoti, Ntimama and Kalonzo simply because they crossed over from the Moi project?

When you tune into your TV over the weekend, you will see Moi strutting his stuff in some village in the Rift Valley, a battery of journalists in his wake and Kenyans giving him their attention. I will tune in to Channel 5 and watch Tanzanian music.

I Need To See Beyond The Chameleons!!!

I have realized that Kenyan politicians have perfected the art of changing like chameleons, and we Kenyans are gullible for it. It is very easy for our politicians to move from hero to zero to hero and back to zero again, with us cheering or jeering them loudly in the process. The same people who were quick to dismiss Musalia in 2002 were quick to cheer him in 2007 simply because he was now on the 'right' side. Likewise, Kenyans who had dismissed Uhuru as Nyayo's project were cheering him loudly when he teamed up with the likes of Raila during the referendum days, cheers that turned to jeers when he later declared support for Kibaki and said Kazi Iendelee. It has not been lost to me that some ODM fans that hated Karua for her guts during the electioneering period are now praising her for having the guts to stand up against PNU.

We know that our politicians will not be consistent but what prevents us from being consistent? The whole political thing is becoming like a wrestling soap opera, where our allegiance changes according to the changes in the script. And it is the media that plays out this sorry state to us, hoping to keep us hooked with political intrigues of changing alliances. This is really the reason the Sunday papers exist for (apart from reporting on weekend sports).

The only way I can get out of this bondage is by realising that the political class is really just the political class. fullstop. Recently I was in a forum where people tried to argue that Moi was a good president, corruption was limited during his tenure, ministers towed the line, Kenyans did not hack each other, tribalism was checked and he handed over power to peaceful, MPs did not increase their salaries obscenely and that there was a tolerated level of democracy and expression (I breathed easy when I realized that most of these contributors only developed political awareness after section 2A was repeled). I tried to imagine how those who had actually had their husbands or wifes or sons detained and killed during the Moi error for subscribing to alternative views would react to that. Or will they see what is happening today and say Moi was good?

That is our curse. We quickly forget our pain and in 2012, we are once again prepared to welcome those who caused us so much pain in the past simply because they have changed their colour. We need to see beyond the chameleon.

Party Shenanigans - Not Yet Democracy!

The recent party elections held by different political parties in a bid to comply with new regulations once again proved that as a country we are still a long way from Democracy. All the major parties basically "staged the elections" and none of the current party leaders deserve to claim that they were elected. The party delegates merely met to rubber stamp board room decisions. What is even frightening is that parties went as far as creating positions to accommodate certain personalities. Nowhere was this so blatant as in ODM where a position of second deputy party leader had to be created to accommodate William Ruto as the party feared the consequences of Ruto and Mudavadi facing each other. In another party, positions for eight vice chairs were created!! While it is laughfable the way our politicians fear to face each other in elections, what is of more concern to be is the fact that doors are effectively shut on new comers or new blood.

While the law will be making it difficult to have anybody come up with a party just for the sake of it, the mainstream parties are effectively being locked up through board-room maneuovers. This might mean that even having some fringe parties to run on with the hope of upsetting the applecart will be more difficult. And with mainstream parties under lock and key of the establishment, it will be a long time before any meaningful democracy is seen in our political space. I see a continuation where the PNU-ODM-ODMK dictatorship is further going to be entrenched as the political space closes up, more so with the continued attempts to frighten the media through legislation. Given that this axis of evil shares the same values, that is to further entrench and enrich the political and big business class at the expense of wananchi, this really is frightening.

It is time that Kenyans started to identify a political movement that can be shaped and controlled by wananchi, that whose leadership can be a reflection of the people's voice and not crafted to satisfy the bloated egos of some big shot politicians. And how can we do this. I don't have an exact answer at the moment but one of the first steps can be to identify a fringe party and take it over...just musing

What Happened to Rev. Musyimi?

A few years ago Rev. Musyimi was being touted as potential presidential candidate, until of course Raila declared 'Kibaki Tosha!'. Last year the man of cloth retired from the church and plunged into politics, eventually becoming the Gachoka MP via PNU. When the country eraptued into post election violence, nothing much was heard from the man who had been touted the voice of reason. When there was a cabinet formation stalemate, the chap was missing in action. At the height of the Kriegler and Waki report debates, the man is conspicously absent. When the public is raising an outcry against MPs fight not to be taxed, mum is the word for the good Reverend. When is this guy going to speak?

It looks like the comforts of Kenya's Parliament is such that even the best intentioned of fella's tongues gets tied. And he is not the first man who has gone to Parliament with the public's great expectations only to go silent. I have also been trying to watch the likes of Ababu Namwamba, Shakeel Shabir, Millie Odhiambo and Kabando wa Kabando but so far I am not impressed. Looks like the mabadiliko we all craned for is not going to happen soon. We need an Obama to emerge here but when I look at the horizon, I cant' see anybody. Can someone please drop me a name?

Cabinet Discusses Waki Report

The Cabinet is meeting today to discuss the contentious Waki Report, with the Waki envelop threat hanging over some of their heads. I for one, I am very sceptical about the cabinet taking any risks that would put their careers on the line, but I beleive that this matter must somehow be brought to a close if this country is to move ahead. And especially those whose names are rumoured to be in the envelop, it helps to sort out this matter once and for all with 2012 still far away. Raila has already intimated that he is ready to quit the Government if he discoveres that ODM leaders were victimized in the report....question is, can this report bring down the coalition government?