The salaries of Kenya's president and MPs will be slashed
after next month's elections in a move aimed at reducing the wage bill in the
public sector, according to a government gazette signed by the chairwoman of
the independent Salaries and Remunerations Commission.
The president's gross salary will be cut from $16,000 to
$14,000 (£12,400) a month, while that of MPs will fall from $7,200 to $6,100 a
month.
Some of the perks of MPs, including a car grant and an
allowance for attending plenary sessions of parliament, have also been
abolished.
Kenya's MPs are said to be among the highest paid in the
world, especially after their allowances are added to their salaries.
After the last election, they caused huge controversy by
resisting moves to cut their salaries, and even threatened to block the passage
of the national budget.
This time, it will be more difficult to do that because the
commission wants the MPs, along with the president and other elected officials,
to agree to the cuts before they take the oath of office, says the BBC.
Led by Sarah Serem, the commission set the salaries of
cabinet secretaries, or ministers, at $9,240 down from $10,560. It hopes that
the salary cut will save Kenya $88m a year.
The commission is a constitutionally created body which
makes independent decisions regarding how much government officials should be
paid.
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