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{
    "id": 1244847,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1244847/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 121,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I join my colleague, Sen. Wambua, in congratulating Sen. Cherarkey for bringing to the Senate a very topical issue. It is a conversation that is going on, unfortunately, in the wrong places. I have seen our brothers and sisters from the county assemblies trying to prosecute this point in funerals, weddings and churches. Unfortunately, Kenyans are Kenyans. There is no day a Kenyan will ever expect an extra coin to go to the pocket of any politician. At the end of the day, immediately after that function where they have told you that we cannot add you a coin, the same Kenyans will follow you and say: “Please, pay us, we want to go home.” They are just like Members of Parliament (MPs) who are opposed to the Finance Bill. On one mouth, they oppose it and on the other, they are saying they want to see better roads and development in their counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this conversation is better heard in the Standing Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations where we can reason as adults. Let the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) come and explain before this House the justification for these findings. This is because it is grossly out of order. It is unfair to expect that our Members of county Assembly (MCAs) will perform their constitutional mandate and be the bodies and organs that Kenyans envisioned when they passed the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 while being paid a paltry Kshs80,000. At the same time, they have been denied car grants and sitting allowance just like they did for Members of this House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, at least, MPs are slightly paid better and they can survive. Imagine an MCA who wakes up in the village to find a que of 10 to 20 citizens expecting him or her to sort a few of their problems, as is the tradition in this country, with a paltry Kshs86,000. What will MCAs do? They will have to find creative ways of surviving. Unfortunately, some of them involve undermining the very duty for which they were elected. That is why you find MCAs have turned into choir masters for governors. It is not their wish. They should be properly compensated. As a Senate, we should give them the necessary support and increased their ceiling. Comparatively, we need to undertake a study. Our allocation for the coming financial year as Parliament is Kshs40 billion in a budget of close to Kshs3 trillion. What"
}