The salaries of Kenya’s president and MPs will be slashed after next month’s fiercely contested 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 salaries of Kenya’s parliamentarians have caused much anger over the years.
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’s Anne Soy in the capital, Nairobi.
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 $88 million a year.
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