Sacked MPs owe Parliament sh5.2b

Apr 06, 2011

THE 78 legislators, who were thrown out of Parliament by the Constitutional Court, are yet to refund sh5.2b to Parliament which had been advanced to them in salaries since their nominations in November.

By Madinah Tebajjukira

THE 78 legislators, who were thrown out of Parliament by the Constitutional Court, are yet to refund sh5.2b to Parliament which had been advanced to them in salaries since their nominations in November.

According to a source in the accounts department of Parliament who spoke on condition of anonymity, the money covers the months of December, January and February.

The source said the embattled MPs were supposed to pay back the money they received as salaries, gratuity and other allowances at the time they were illegally in Parliament.

According to the source, MPs receive a net salary of sh1.5m, constituency allowance of sh3.22m, gratuity of 30% of their salaries and 40% for ministers.

They are also entitled to mileage allowances depending on the distance with the maximum being sh11.7m and minimum of sh4m.

Besides this, the MPs also get sh1.06m allowances for town run and subsistence of sh4.4m to enable them meet accommodation costs since most of them come from up country.

They are also given a committee allowance which is between sh15,000-25,000 per sitting.

The affected MPs got all the above monies for the three months, the source added. On average, each MP gets about sh14m, meaning that each is supposed to refund about sh45m.

The source said Parliament will drag to court Members of Parliament who fail to pay the money.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});