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{
    "id": 938258,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/938258/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 156,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "of work that MPs performed. Parliament, which is supposed to be an independent arm of Government, independent from the Executive, was under the control of the Executive. Members of Parliament were not getting good remuneration. Therefore, a Commission was formed by Parliament at that time and it was chaired by Rtd. Chief Justice Majid Cocker. It was supposed to look at terms of service of MPs. However, when the Commission was in Meru when it was going around the country, members of the public who spoke did not just address the plight of the sitting MPs then, but they went ahead to talk about the retired MPs. They spoke so passionately about the plight of a former MP, Hon. Bernard Mate, who was a former MP from Meru region. They said that, apart from considering the sitting MPs and future MPs, there is need to also address the plight of former MPs. When the same Commission – whose terms of reference did not include former MP’s plight, went to Kakamega region, the Chairperson of the Commission asked where a former MP, who he knew well, called J.D. Otiende was. He was told that the MP was somewhere in the remote areas of the current Kakamega County. When the Chairperson of the Commission, Rtd. Chief Justice Majid Cocker sought to know if J.D. Otiende would appear before his Commission and express the plight of former MPs, he was told that the mzee could not afford transport. I was told that they immediately organised a harambee and raised Kshs10,000 that they gave to someone to take to Hon. J.D. Otiende. When Hon. J.D. Otiende received the Kshs10,000, to him, it was like the angels had descended from heaven. He decided to take Kshs9,500 and keep it under his mattress and remained with Kshs500 that he used as his transport to go and address the Commission. From the Report, it is clear that the Justice Cockar Commission which was looking into this matter expressed that when JD Otiende appeared before them, even Cockar who knew him very well could not recognise him. He wanted to adjourn the meeting to a later date, waiting for Otiende. He was told ‘Otiende is already here’ and he could not believe his eyes that this was the same JD Otiende who was a very prominent personality in the country. This led this Committee to include this matter of the plight of former Members of Parliament, which was not within their terms of reference. Apart from recommending enhanced salaries and allowances for Members of Parliament, which we currently enjoy… That takes me to addressing this issue of salaries of Members of Parliament. I have heard Kenyans complain a lot about our salaries, forgetting that this salary was a recommendation of a commission from what the public said. In fact, if you look at the Report of the Justice Cockar Commission and the next commission which I will talk about, the Akiwumi Commission, you will realise that majority of Kenyans wanted Members of Parliament to be remunerated properly. As to whether we were given too much, that is a debate for another day. The Justice Cockar Commission made a recommendation about the plight of former Members of Parliament. Among the recommendations that they made was that former Members of Parliament should be paid an ex-gratia allowance of Kshs1 million for each Member of Parliament who served before 2002 when they were doing this Report. When this recommendation went to the Parliament’s management then — because it is this commission that brought about the Parliamentary Service Commission — it was decided that there were some Members of Parliament who served between 1984 and 2002 when the 8th Parliament was adjourned and they were pensionable. The Members who served before 1984 were not"
}