Atwoli
Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary General Francis Atwoli has stated that Members of Parliament should be given decent salaries and allowances
Speaking on Sunday September 25 in Malindi Atwoli noted that low salaries temps the lawmakers to become con artists.
Atwoli argued that MPs must be unique and have nice cars to appear as leaders.
“Our leaders must appear well, must dress well, must have nice cars, must be able to speak, must appear representative and must be seen as members of parliament. It is us as taxpayers to make sure that they are well dressed so that they don’t become conmen or do some other businesses which are not worth a member of parliament.” He said.
The COTU secretary general also chastised the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) for abolishing allowances. He echoed the comments of Speaker Moses Wetangula, claiming that parliamentarians were entitled to the allowances.
“If you say a Member of Parliament cannot be well paid what are you saying, our members of parliament must be unique. So many people depend on them and there are alot of things they have to initiate in their own constituencies. If you curtail them from earning then what will give them the dignity as members of parliament then you are doing a disservice to the country,” Atwoli stated.
Atwoli further slammed the Supreme Court for abolishing the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF).
He asserted that funding had previously been utilized to launch programs that benefited many Kenyans.
“The MPs cannot be told that they can’t have CDF. I don’t think that we are moving in the right direction. They must be paid well and must have allowances,” he said.
“I don’t think whether SRC and other people including our judiciary who have stopped the CDF are doing the right thing. Those are some of the view that Kenyans must reflect back.” He said.
