Car grants for members of county assemblies(MCAs) are essential for public service, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has said.
SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich also noted that the decision to provide the Sh2 million car grants was made in 2017, contrary to reports that it was made recently as a ruse to get MCAs to support the BBI constitutional amendment Bill.
Ms Mengich said the implementation of the grant was delayed due to a lack of funds.
She said Tuesday that the Council of Governors (CoG) wrote to the SRC this year informing the commission that counties had finally budgeted for the grant facility.
This, she said, is what allowed the commission to finally approve the payments.
“In 2017, the issue was discussed for both the National and County Assemblies. At that point, the commission only approved the National Assembly payment because there was a budget allocated for that. County assemblies were not allocated the same because there was no budget,” Ms Mengich said.
The SRC Chair noted that like other State and public officers, ward reps are entitled to transport facilitation to make their work easier.
“Since 2017, Parliament is facilitated in that way. They don’t get a car with a driver like other State officers. They are facilitated in a different way,” Ms Mengich said.
“In their representative role, they are required to visit their constituents periodically and because it is a requirement of their job, they are facilitated to discharge that responsibility of representation.”
