Last year, there were reports in several online media outlets that a cross-section of Kenyan MPs was strongly opposed to a move by the country’s public wages commission to implement a proposed cut on their salaries and allowances.
Kenyan MPs are the highest paid parliamentarians in the entire East Africa region and some of the best paid on the continent. They also enjoy a stack of generous allowances including a $48,000 car grant.
The wages commission said the cut is part of plans to reduce the country’s public sector wage bill by 35%. Reports in local newspapers, however, say some lawmakers have vowed to “do all they can” to reject the proposal.
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The insistence by Kenyan lawmakers to maintain the hefty wage bill has drawn criticism from several quarters and sparked a wider debate about what appears to be the inordinately high salaries commanded by lawmakers in several African countries, vis-a-vis the national minimum wage and Gross Domestic Product.
With the hashtag #MPsPay that trended on social media in Kenya, Face2face Africa looked at African countries with the highest paid members of Parliament.
