It has been a trying year in Kenya, one of the worst in decades, as a severe drought killed off crops and cattle and left millions with empty stomachs and uncertain futures.
In the midst of such suffering, members of Kenya's Parliament have been roused to action as seldom before, finding common ground on an issue so pressing that they threatened to stonewall the budget until it was addressed: another big increase in their pay.
The move last month to reward themselves in a time of crisis infuriated Kenyan voters, most of whom skimp out a living on a fraction of what their elected officials earn. It also reinforced the notion that this was a political drought, one that owed its origins as much to mismanagement in a country that should be able to feed itself as to the vagaries of nature.
"They are greedy," said Jackson Ndungu, 50, a computer programmer who offered one of the milder critiques one can hear on the streets of Nairobi these days. "They are out only for themselves."
Their reputation as fat cats did not come out of thin air. After taking office in 2003 with promises to reform an out-of-touch, authoritarian government, they squandered much of the public good will with their very first vote: It quadrupled their annual salaries.
Then they really got to work, voting to give themselves low-interest car and home loans, generous health insurance and retirement packages. As for other types of legislation, the record has been rather mixed, with fewer than a dozen bills becoming law each year.
Kenya is a place where members of the National Assembly are expected to dole out cash to their constituents, and that is one of the justifications that legislators use to increase their own benefits. They say they frequently pay out of their pockets for funerals, school costs and other expenses associated with the people back home. They also contend that Kenyans expect their elected officials to dress well, live well and drive a car that is not a clunker.
The legislative branch of Kenya's government is flexing its muscles after years of being sidelined by an all-powerful head of state.
"What we are witnessing in Kenya is the rise of parliament as a force to be reckoned with in the governance equation after 40 years of being more or less a rubber stamp for the executive," said Marc Cassidy, a US-financed democracy adviser to Kenya's parliament.
Still, some say Kenya's legislators have lost touch with the poor districts they represent. Kenya's per capita income is about US$463 a year, which nobody here would expect a lawmaker to survive on. The minimum wage is US$924 a year, still far too little, in most Kenyans' view, for someone taking care of the nation's business.
But the base compensation that Kenya's legislators earn is about US$81,000 a year, tax free, plus a variety of allowances and perks, which can effectively double their take-home pay. That means these public servants earn more than most Kenyan corporate executives and also outstrip the salaries of many of their counterparts in the developed world.
"They are behaving like we are rich and as if there's no famine and poverty in the country," Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights, complained to the Daily Nation newspaper recently. "They want to make as much money as they can."
The latest increase to their pay packages, which cost the country US$2.78 million, nearly doubled the travel allowances that parliamentarians receive for their Mercedes, Land Rovers and other typically sleek rides. They will now receive a monthly lump sum of US$4,719 to cover the first 350km they drive. After that, they will take in another US$1.60 per kilometer, significantly more than ordinary Kenyans can claim as deductions on their tax forms.
The mileage allowance was particularly galling to Kenyans, most of whom struggle mightily to make ends meet, because it was approved while a severe drought ravages the country.
To get the car allowances, the parliamentarians threatened to block a vote on the government's budget plan, including a provision that provided aid to the 3.5 million people facing food shortages.
Also raising the ire of Kenyans was an explanation that politicians offered for needing the additional cash: the country's shoddy road network increases the cost for them to get back and forth from their districts to the capital.
"Fix the roads" has been the unanimous response from the populace.
Within days of awarding themselves the travel allowance, the legislators increased their constituency development funds, which are district accounts that each lawmaker has to dole out projects close to home. Though popular among the public, the funds have been criticized for promoting cronyism and pork projects.
All this controversy came at a particularly uncomfortable time for Kenyan legislators, who earlier this month were hosts for the annual meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which brought lawmakers from throughout the world to Nairobi to discuss the issues of the day.
But the Kenyan lawmakers offered a solution to their woes. They pleaded with the local media to keep quiet about their salaries while their visitors, many of whom are much more poorly paid then the Kenyans, were in town.
"We should keep our dirty linen in the wardrobe for the duration of the meeting as they do elsewhere in the world," said Andrew Ligale, the head of Kenya's organizing committee for the conference.
But the local press did not take the suggestion. Front pages of dailies devoted considerable attention to the controversy.
"We have a very strong, selfish and indulgent parliament that is only united when milking the exchequer," The Standard said in an editorial at the start of the conference.
By the conference's end, another front page story surveyed the salaries of many of the attendees at the conference and found Kenyan members of parliament to be among the most highly paid politicians in the world. The speaker of Kenya's National Assembly, Francis ole Kaparo, warned his colleagues publicly the other day that if they continued focusing more attention on themselves than on the nation's business they would surely be voted out.
"People aren't fools," Kaparo said. "People follow what they do, and if they don't stay in line with their constituents they will not be re-elected."
But apparently many of these lawmakers already believe they are short-timers, which is why they are feathering their nests as much as they can, while they can.
Still, some good may come out of this. There is talk of creating an outside commission to decide parliamentary salaries, taking the issue out of the hands of the beneficiaries.
Until that time, though, lawmakers are watching their backs. One threatened to vote for the ouster of President Mwai Kibaki if he tries to eliminate the constituent development funds, which give lawmakers the ability to decide spending priorities themselves. Another has proposed censuring the speaker for daring to criticize the members' pay, not to mention their penchant for extended recesses.
"He should not play inaccurate populist politics just for the expediency of the moment," said Otino Kajwang, who contends he and others work hard for the good of the country and deserve every shilling they get.
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