Kenyan Parliament $$ Debacle Take 2

For those of you who do not follow Kenyan politics, it is one of the craziest political scenes that I have ever encountered. After the 2007 election, violence in 2008 followed. The Parliament that was elected in that election tried this past October to raise their pay.

Kenyan Parliament

Keep in mind that Kenya has some of the best-paid politicians in the world. In October, the Parliament voted to award themselves a bonus of over $105,000. To give some perspective, a regular worker at minimum wage in Kenya would have to work for 61 years to earn that bonus.

Luckily, in October, the President, Mwai Kibaki, had the common sense to veto the package.

But that did not stop these sneaky mwizi (thieves). In a last-ditch attempt last week, they voted once again to raise their salaries by approximately the same amount, but added a couple new bells and whistles. For instance, they would get a diplomatic passport, an armed guard, a house allowance, and a state funeral.... AFTER THEY LEFT OFFICE. So they were basically setting themselves up for a life of never working again. Another key difference? This time, they included the President and Prime Minister in the booty.

From the October Protests, but the sentiment is the same

So guess what the President Kibaki did? He line-item-vetoed every bit of the bill for the MPs. And kept his own raise. What a guy. Let's just say he's not getting re-elected.

Random Kate Thoughts: These MPs are also not getting re-elected in March, so they are trying to take advantage of their power to strip an already relatively-poor country of its last tax money. Kenyans I work with are boggled by the lack of ethics displayed by their elected representatives. January is a tough month for everyone, what with Christmas over and budgets stretched, so this was really not the time to become such gluttons. Ask a Kenyan about this and watch their blood pressure will rise. Let's hope that the elections will bring in some MPs who actually care about their country.