MPs Thursday forced the shelving of the controversial Value Added Tax Bill to demand their July salaries, mileage and car grant allocations. The MPs blocked the Bill from being scrutinised at the committee stage vowing not to go on recess without their full pay. It emerged that 206 first term MPs had not received the Sh5 million car grant each due to a House policy on seniority. The legislators refused to accept a letter read to the House by Leader of Majority Adan Duale informing them that the salaries will be paid on Monday. “I have a letter from National Assembly dated today (Thursday) written by the Acting Accountant General S.O. Obudo requesting the National Treasury to grant an exchequer request of Sh1.03 billion for car grant and payment of members’ salaries,” said Duale prompting uproar from MPs who have silently been protesting. “Why today? Shouted the MPs as Duale sought to lay blame on Parliament for failing to issue the request to the Treasury earlier. “We must show where the problem is. The Treasury will release money once they open the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS). This letter by S.O. Obudo went there today, Treasury is not to blame. It is Parliament that did not make the request,” he said. MPs have earlier refused to pick their salaries for three months in protest to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) reduction of the monthly income from the Sh851,000 earned by their predecessors to Sh532,500. They only accepted the SRC pay after a deal brokered by Deputy President William Ruto in May which also allowed them earn more in allowances. Mr Duale failed in his bid to convince members to pass the Bill saying the deputy Clerk of the Assembly Michael Sialai had assured him that monies will be released to MPs accounts on Monday. “This is a public relations gimmick that I have never seen before. We can’t allow this to happen because we have not been paid salary for last month. We need our cash before we can leave otherwise we are being taken for a ride,” said Junet Mohammed, the Suna East MP. Suba MP John Mbadi lobbied members against going on recess without their welfare being taken into account. He rose when deputy Speaker Joyce Laboso had taken the chair to preside over the scrutiny of the VAT Bill before passage into law. “MPs cannot deliver without vehicles. How do they go on recess without the car grant? As we speak 206 new MPs have been operating without cars and the Treasury is giving us promises that they will pay tomorrow. It has been too long waiting for money to buy cars,” Mbadi said. The MPs had earlier in the day held a Speaker’s Kamukunji where the issue of welfare was raised but no agreement was reached in the closed door session. The matter exploded in the floor as the government tried to push through the enactment of the VAT Bill, which it hopes to use to raise Sh10 billion in additional revenue while at the same time simplifying tax procedures. “We cannot go home without a salary. How will we travel? Our support staff has not been paid while there is no money to constituencies for projects,” said Kitutu Chache North MP Richard Onyonka. 1 | 2 Next Page» Most Popular
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 18:43:42 +0000
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