The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has rejected a proposal to raise the amount of pension paid to ex-MPs.

The Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2023 by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, seeks to amend section 8 of the Parliamentary Service Act, to allow the former MPs who served between July 1, 1984, and January 1, 2001, to take home a monthly pension of Sh100,000.

“A former MP who, having served in parliament between July 1, 1984, and January 1, 2001, and is entitled to pension and whose monthly pension amounts to less than Sh100,000, shall be entitled to a monthly pension of Sh100,000,” reads the Bill.

SRC CEO Anne Gitau however said in a memorandum to the National Assembly that pension is an employment benefit and therefore falls within the commission’s mandate adding that “any legislative proposal or review thereof is subject to the mandate of the commission as provided in the constitution.”

“In view of the ongoing it is our considered view that the legislative proposal to review the pension benefits of state officers in parliament infringes SRC’s mandate,” the CEO said.

Article 230 (4) (a) of the constitution empowers SRC to set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all state officers, including MPs.

Records show that there are some 160 retired MPs who served between July 1, 1984, and January 1, 2001. There are also about 130 widows/ widowers.

Currently, only MPs who serve for at least two terms are eligible for a lump sum pay of Sh7 million before tax of 30 percent and a monthly pension of Sh118,000.

Those who have served less than ten years are eligible for a service gratuity at the rate of 31 percent of their basic pay and a refund of their contribution plus the 60 percent worth of government contribution.

Already, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has projected that it would cost the government at least Sh180.9 million a year in enhanced pension to the former MPs, something SRC is uncomfortable with as it struggles to reduce the country’s wage bill to manageable levels.

This means at least Sh15.08 million in enhanced monthly, if the proposed amendments become law, something that the SRC is uncomfortable with.