"Kenya outraged over parliament’s bid for raises" by Jason Straziuso, Associated Press | July 3, 2010
NAIROBI — Kenyans expressed outrage yesterday after members of parliament this week recommended giving themselves a $175,000 annual pay package, compensation decried as overly exorbitant in a country where farm workers earn only $40 a month.
The legislators’ compensation package includes pay for housing, entertainment expenses, transportation, a constituency allowance, and an extraneous allowance. The politicians will even be paid for attending parliament meetings.
We call it LOOTING here!
It outpaces what many European parliamentarians make, and would pay as much as the US Congress.
They are in GOOD COMPANY, huh?
But Kenya’s economy can’t match those of the United States or Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Nairobi residents live in slums with no running water....
I know where you can go take a dump!
“They are so selfish. I could grab them by their necks and strangle them,’’ said Muthoni Njathi, 29, who works in a small Nairobi restaurant where workers average about $125 a month. “There are so many people who go without food, so many people who walk kilometer after kilometer to go to work.’’
I have a better idea:
Kenya’s 222 legislators currently make about $126,000 annually.
That is still too much!
Parliament’s vote on Wednesday came after a pay committee recommended the increases and that members pay income taxes for the first time.
Un-flipping-real!
With the new taxes in place, the increase in members’ take-home pay would be relatively small — about $1,500 a month.
Tell that to the FARM WORKER and LABORER!
But newspaper headlines and public reaction have been scathing.
IF ONLY OUR NEWSPAPERS would JOIN with the PEOPLE!!!
“Not With Our Tax Money,’’ screamed the front page of yesterday’s Daily Nation, Kenya’s leading newspaper. The Standard newspaper headlined one story the “Greedy pack of MPs.’’ Labor groups, the teachers union, and civil society groups have angrily denounced parliament’s recommendation, which is scheduled to be voted on in final form next week.
That is PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY!
“It’s robbery without violence. It’s the height of impunity. I don’t think my language can be strong enough on how disgusted we are,’’ said Wanjiru Gikonyo, the national coordinator of the Institute for Social Accountability. “We are not that greedy culture that they have become.’’
That's POLITICS!!!
The office of the Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, released a statement late yesterday that appeared to quash the salary increase proposal, saying the nation doesn’t have enough money to increase salaries and that parliament members have previously said the tax burden on Kenyans should be reduced.
How do you say OOOOPS over there?
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AmeriKans appear to the only ones willing to take s*** in this world.
How sad.
"Recuperating Kenyan leader raps lawmakers" by Associated Press | July 5, 2010
NAIROBI — Hours after Kenya’s prime minister was discharged from the hospital yesterday after a brain procedure, the leader denounced a move by lawmakers to approve a $175,000 annual pay package for themselves.
Lawmakers voted last week to adopt the recommendation of a pay committee to increase their salary and allowances and pay tax on their income for the first time.
With the new taxes in place, the proposed increase in members’ take-home pay would be less, about $1,500 a month. But the media and public have been scathing in their condemnation of the move, which has not yet been fully enacted.
“I am totally against the idea of MPs [members of parliament] adding salaries to themselves arbitrarily,’’ Prime Minister Raila Odinga told journalists during his first news conference since being hospitalized last Monday. “It is unfair. It is sending very wrong signals to the people of this country, at a time when the economy of this country is going through very great strains.’’
Odinga spoke just hours after he was discharged from the hospital, where he had spent six days recuperating after doctors drilled a hole in his head to drain fluids that were putting pressure on his brain. The prime minister was admitted to the hospital last Monday after persistent headaches that day.
He said doctors have instructed him not to resume his full duties for up to two weeks.--more--"
