I knew it was meant to be

Kenya, a country ranked by the United Nations Development Index among the 30 poorest nations in the world, is paying its MPs almost as much as those in the British Parliament. This in a country where Emma does not know where she'll get her next meal.

By Maryanne Wachira

Joseph Mutua lives at Deep Sea, a slum in the Highridge area. He is a watchman who guards a workshop that has been set up by a church-based NGO in the slum. He is suffering from malaria but will soon be reporting to work for his night shift. With a shrug of the shoulders he says, "Malaria cannot stop you from working..." Luckily for him, his employers have also set up a clinic in the slum so he is on medication. Joseph, 48 years old, has eight children. His first two daughters, 23 and 20 years old, are married. So Joseph lives in his single room with his wife and six children, the youngest of whom is three year old Ben.

There are about 1,000 people living at Deep Sea. It is in itself a story of hope, in comparison to many slums in Nairobi. It has come a long way since the NGO started working there four years ago. From shanties with crumbling walls and falling roofs to houses made of timber and corrugated iron sheets. From filth and sewage outside doorways to a drainage system built by the Deep Sea dwellers themselves. There is clean water from a communal tap, 3 toilets and 2 bathrooms - one for the men and the other for the women, the children do not need a bathroom. Their mothers wash them at the communal tap area. All rubbish is collected and burnt. But life is still very tough for Joseph.

Begging and borrowing to survive

"I am constantly in debt", he says, not quite meeting my eyes, "but that's the way life is. Food is very expensive. My family needs at least a packet of maize meal for both lunch and supper. That's already Ksh.60/-. My monthly budget always ends up at about 6,000/- or more, meaning that my debts just keep getting more and more." With a salary of 4,000/-, Joseph has to beg and borrow to survive. "Prices are too high. 'Jogoo' (maize meal) used to be 42/-, now it's 60/-. Sugar was 40/- a kilo, now it's almost 80/-. This government is crushing us. Moi's time was better because food was cheaper..."

Emma Wanjiru is a 30-year old single mother of 3 and is now six months pregnant. She also lives at Deep Sea. Her eldest daughter is 12 years old and is in a boarding school in Thika. She was fortunate enough to find two sponsors to pay the girl's fees because she didn't want her to stay in Deep Sea. There is a lot of bad influence there - her daughter's age mate gave birth early this year.

Emma is not employed but she sells 'sukuma wiki' every evening up to about 11p.m. The returns are low and she only makes about 80/- on a good day. She thinks that to be poor is to be like her, without a job. "A job makes you a person," she says, "The rest of us just survive through perseverance. I tell you when you wake up in the morning and look at your children, it makes you do things you never thought you could..."

More equal than others

Since Narc came into power, Joseph and Emma have had to endure, time and again, announcements of yet another raise in the MPs' allowances. No issue gets all the MPs as animated and united as when they are passing bills to do with their allowances. Through the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), taxable salaries rose from KSHS. 10,000/- to KSHS. 200,000/- with Ksh. 3.3 million as car allowance. Over and above this, they receive a house allowance of 100,000/- per month, medical insurance for self, spouse and children, government security, 1 cook, 1 gardener, a house servant and a traveling allowance of 336,000/- per month.

Currently, parliament is planning to put under the direct control of MPs development funds such as the Roads Fund, the Local Provident Fund (LAPF, currently under councilors) giving them direct control over KSHS. 100 million annually at the constituency level. (1 USD = 76 KSH)

Since January this year, ministers have received a total of Ksh.18 million in gratuities. Each minister was paid 848,533/- working out at over 200,000/- per month. And recently a mileage allowance of 247,000/- per month for Nairobi MPs was passed without going to Parliament. Apparently it is quite legal, not all PSC decisions have to be passed through Parliament. Meaning MPs are getting raises that even they are not aware of! A Nairobi MP, interviewed by a Standard reporter in February this year, said, "I looked at my payslip and there was a cool 247,000/-. I had no idea where it came from. I thought it was a mistake but when I saw it the following month, I knew it was meant to be."

Kenya, a country ranked by the United Nations Development Index among the 30 poorest nations in the world, is paying its MPs almost as much as those in the British Parliament. In addition to all this, the MPs were agitating for a KSH. 1.5 million ‘winding allowance’ (a one-off payment to MPs after one term in Parliament) in a country where Emma does not know where she'll get her next meal.

As Wanjiku Miano, Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, says, "The best indicators of what sort of government we have was their first agenda in Parliament - their allowances. Bills in Parliament are passed very quickly when they involve their own material interests or a consolidation of their power base."

Disillusioned

Churchill Odhiambo, a successful young man, thinks the MPs are being simply outrageous. "Half a million for what?" he exclaims, referring to the fact that MPs take home over 700,000/- per month. "There is no value given back. They're just out there to make money. We are serving them. And they are not even asking us if we want to give them our money, they are just taking it!" The only way forward he sees for this country is to forget about politicians, think positively and do the best for your life.

"We are maintaining their extravagant lifestyles. This is a manifestation that we are light years away from a government that will realize that it is there to serve its people and to account to them,” says Wanjiku Miano. "As long as those in power do not realize that we equip them with that power to serve us, as long as they do not appreciate this social agreement, development that is human centred will not be realized. Development that will translate into improved lifestyles for the people will remain a distant hope."

"This government has its priorities all wrong," she continues. "It came into power on a platform of reform that should be translated into tangible benefits for the people. We envisaged the strengthening of institutions, a vibrant economy.... Perhaps not so fast but an economy that would begin to move from its deathbed. But that is not what we are seeing. They have backpedaled on reforms, on critical campaigns such as the anti-corruption campaign which they had put into motion."

She asserts that "one of the root causes of poverty and inequality that must be addressed is our leaders being self-serving. It does not matter how much donor money comes in. To what purpose will it be put?"

Joseph Mutua thinks our MPs are in Parliament to help their families. "They work like casuals. They know that after five years they will not go back and so must amass everything now."

Kenyans are becoming extremely disillusioned. In the euphoria of 2002, Kenyans voted overwhelmingly for Narc in the belief that it would turn this country around towards development and prosperity. Only to watch the prophecy of J. M. Kariuki, the late firebrand MP, come to pass: of Kenya becoming a country of ten millionaires and ten million beggars. Only now its ten billionaires! An effect of 10% of the population controlling 70% of the wealth and leaving 20 million people wretched.

What is meant to be: equality or inequality?

Maryanne Wachira is media officer at IEC Strategy Ltd

Email: info@iecstrategy.co.ke