Activist turned politician Boniface Mwangi has unveiled some of his plans should he be elected the next member of parlaiment for Starehe Constituency.
In a Facebook post, the former PAWA254 team leader promised to take a 50 percent pay cut if elected in August.
Describing himself as a patriot, an activist, and a change maker, the ‘Unbounded’ author also challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga to make the pay cut agenda part of their manifestos.
“It doesn’t make sense to spend more than Sh108 billion per year on salaries and allowances for 67 senators, 349 members of the National Assembly and 2536 members of the County Assembly. Kenyans are overrepresented and l shall push for the reduction of the number of MPs and MCAs,” Mwangi wrote.
Read his full post below:
I am vying for MP Starehe. I am a Patriot, an Activist, and a Change maker.
Once elected as MP I will lead by example by accepting a 50% reduction to my salary. H.E Uhuru Kenyatta and Hon. Raila Odinga should also make the pay-cut agenda part of their manifestos.
1. As MP l will push for the reduction of salaries and number of representatives. It does not make sense for 45 million Kenyans to spend more than ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT BILLION SHILLINGS (108,000,000,000) per year on salaries and allowances for 67 senators, 349 members of the National Assembly and 2,526 Members of county assembly. Kenyans are overrepresented and l shall push for the reduction of the number of MPs and MCAs. The media should push to make the MPs’, MCAs’, and Senators’ 50% pay-cut part of the agenda in this campaign period.
2. Vehicle Grants: Every MP and Senator gets a non-repayable grant of 5 million shillings to buy a car. Why should we pay them hefty salaries and then buy them cars? Taxpayers spend 4.9 BILLION SHILLINGS FOR LUXURY CARS. This is legalized theft!
3. Illegal Sitting Allowances: On top of their hefty salaries, MPs are, also paid sitting allowances’ for every parliament or committee session. Every time an MP or Senator goes to parliament to do their job, they get 5000 shillings. Parliament sits twice daily, in the morning and afternoon, for 4 days a week. This means that an MP is paid 80,000 shillings on top of their basic salary to do their actual job.
4. State Protection: Every MP is entitled to one bodyguard. Some have more. For a country with a low police to population ratio, more than 1/8th of the police service is dedicated to VIP protection. Why should MPs have bodyguards? Isn’t the country safe? MPs do not do dangerous work – unless they consider serving Kenyans a risky job. The 999 emergency numbers should always work and emergencies promptly responded to. This requires that the police live and work in humane conditions, are well paid, and their service cars fueled. They should live amongst civilians to ensure the safety of the citizens, not just a few individuals.
5. Unreasonable Medical Cover:MPs and Senators have a 10-million-shillings medical cover. This should be scrapped. Any person occupying public office should use the same facilities as the people who elect him/her. How else would they improve the health sector if they never interact with it? #RohoJuu
