I wish all Kenyans can grow up to be: President, PM, VP and MP but this is NOT the
case. Mr. Mauthaura’s testimony to tribunal dealing with MPS salary and tax issue (
see Standard March, 31) leave a lot to be desired … if these are the leaders and the
intellectual thinkers in this country!. If politicians salaries were not high enough to
one day run this country into bankruptcy, now Mr. Mauthaura is suggesting and proposing
retirement benefits that poor “Wanainchi” in this country CAN ONLY dream. I urge some of
you to visit the “Animal Farm story” again to better understand the salaries and
benefits for Kenya politicians as envisioned by Mathaura. Here is Mathaura’s genius
Ideas and testimony on salaries and benefits for politicians before (Justice Akiwumi
Tax/benefit Tribunal hearing):

“* 20% benefits paid to politicians out basic salary of 850,000++++++++ per month! for
the years served after they leave office

* Benefits for spouses and children under 18 years..numbers???
* Spouses of deceased PMs and VPs to inherit 50% of all benefits
* PMS and VPs to be given two vehicles… one of these cars MUST be four wheel and
must be replaced every four years…for life!
* Ksh. 50,000 fuel allowance for the cars
* Full medical coverage for these leaders and their family
* 25,000 fuel allowance for spouses”..number of spouses???

Kenyans from all walks of life should be OUTRAGE with this nutty proposals from this MR.
Mathaura character. I hope the sitting tribunal of justice Akilano Akiwumi take Mr.
Mauthura’s benefits package proposal with with “grain salt” and NOT to take it
seriously. What is so special about these leaders/ politicians that: they cannot pay
taxes on their salaries in the first place and in the second place they must rely on
public funds after they leave office?. One may wonder if Mathaura is telling the
country that these leaders don’t save money from these hefty payments that they can leave
on after they retire from government payroll?. What is so special about the ” four wheel
vehicle” that these leaders must have after they retire?. When you are it, why don’t
they be provided with Hammers or helicopters to avoid “great Kenya roads and traffic!.
On serious note, people like Mauthura are the ones perpetuating African mentality of
dependency theory where individualism is neglected. Politicians depend on public
resources until the day they die and their government always depend on foreign donors
and hand outs from other well wishers like orphans.

Kenya people have nobody to blame but to themselves. When it comes to election or
choosing leaders, each tribe chooses one of their own regardless of: how corrupt or
damn these politicians may be. At this time KRA Commissioner has only two MPs and one
minister who are voluntarily paying taxes. These are the type of leaders this country
need regardless of their tribal or party affiliation in this country.The three leaders
paying taxes should be the one this country should be paying attention to because they
are leading by example. Some excuses the MPs are coming out with NOT to pay taxes are
even nuttier than Mauthura’s. For example to year mark MPs taxes back to their district
will the biggest colossal mistake any living government can make in this country. If you
think about it, the corruption in the usage and control of CDF by these MPs is bad
enough… imagine what these leaders would do with use of their taxes in these
constituencies. I don’t know how long or what other excuses the MPs who don’t want to pay
taxes will come up with in the on going tax hearing tribunals. I hope Mr. Ngungi MP
for Kinangop is NOT speaking for all Kenya MPs when he says ” ..their hefty salaries and
benefits..are meant to attract skilled people to Parliament..,to insulate MPs from
manipulation by the executives..(whatever this means!). Further more, Mr. Ngugi to claim
that he ” spent a fortune to get elected to Parliament ” .. now he should earn high pay
and not pay taxes is crazy idea!. Does this mean that the privileged political class
in Kenya cannot pay taxes because they want (ROI)return on investment for running for
public office?. I thought politicians in this country are here to serve the public NOT
personal interest.
The KRA authority estimates that if MPs and other leaders Mr. Mathaura is advocating for
pay their fair share of public taxes, the country will raise at least Ksh. 670
million per year. The argument here is NOT how much Kenya MPs and other political leaders
are paid..the primary issue is PAYING TAXES ON THESE SALARIES AND BENEFITS!!.

Lately Kenya has politicians have been emulating US and other Western government pay
public pay structure. Here are the salary scale of US Public officials: Representatives,
VP and and the President:

* US President $ 471,000 per year
* VP 227,300
* Representatives 169,000

NOTE: From these salaries, these US politicians MUST pay taxes according to their tax
income brackets. Furthermore these politicians do contribute to charities from these
salaries and from other family incomes. Nutty arguments by Kenya politicians like Mr.
Ngungi ( from Kinangop) not to pay taxes will NEVER ..NEVER get you elected in any
public offices in the US!. If these Kenya politicians are going to adopt Western country
pay scale, they should also adopt paying taxes on these salaries. Yes, it is true
that US Representatives do get life time benefits: like social security, Health and
pension after they serve five years in office but because they do pay into these benefits
from their salaries when they are in office. There is a say..if you are going to “run
with the big dogs”..you must also learn to p…like the big dogs!. If Kenya politicians
are adopting US politicians public salaries regardless of the size of these two
economies, they must also pay taxes like every one else in their country.

Here a solution that the Tribunal and Kenya people should consider in setting up MP’s
salaries. Reduce MPs salaries by 35% pay (no taxes) and pay them allowance of 15% on
top on their new base salary to cover all expenses. During these economic hard times
these politicians need to scarify like the general population who are sometimes going
without food. I don’t know requiring MPs to come testify before the tribunal that is
deciding their benefits will do any good to bring these salaries and benefits down in
line with what the country is going through economically. I will be the first one person
not to blame Nyanza MPs who have avoided to testify before the tribunal on this issue..
it is like having “foxes guarding the hen house”. Why should these MPs testify to the
body that may reduce their hefty benefits and why should they like other MPs from other
areas care about what the public think on getting higher salaries and hefty benefits!
When election comes around each tribe will be voting for their own. By reducing or
getting pay cut these politicians will NOT lose anything because at the end of the five
year term, they will get massive severance pay. Does anybody in this country now
remember the severance pay that were given to politicians who lost the election on top of
their base and benefits last year?.

The voters in Kenya should NOT blame these politicians in attaining these high salaries
or NOT paying taxes. It is damn for the public to expect different results ( tax
fairness) from these MPS if they keep voting them in office because ( ONE OF YOUR
OWN..YOUR TRIBE) that permeate Kenya politics.

JD Brown Social Economic Commentary

– – –
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:16:46 -0400 [04/02/2009 04:16:46 PM CDT]
From: Dan Orao
Subject: KENYA POLITICIANS PAY DAMN TAXES LIKE EVERY ONE ELSE!