Kenyan lawmakers vote themselves bonuses

Lawmakers have approved end-of-term bonuses for themselves of more than $20,000 each, a move an anti-corruption campaigner said showed "contempt for public opinion" in a country where nearly half the population earns less than a dollar a day.

Late Thursday, lawmakers unanimously passed the package that will see Kenya's 222 National Assembly members each get about $22,388 as an end-of-term bonus, said Paul Muite, an opposition legislator sympathetic to the government.

The lawmakers originally wanted $88,059 bonuses, but Finance Minister Amos Kimunya amended that following public protests. The bonuses will be paid when parliament is dissolved to pave way for elections in December, which will mark the end of the lawmakers' five-year terms.

A final vote on the package is expected next week, said Muite, who was among the lawmakers who approved the package. Next week's vote is a formality because Thursday's vote was the last opportunity to stop the bonuses.

Kenyan lawmakers are among the best paid in Africa and in the past four years have been accused of being eager to increase their pay and benefits, while about 46 percent of Kenyans live on less than a dollar a day, according to government figures.

Anti-corruption campaigner Mwalimu Mati said the bonuses showed, "total contempt for public opinion and for a rational assessment of what this country can afford."

"They are lining their pockets just before an election," Mati told The Associated Press. "Kenya's population is abjectly poor but the government and parliament seem to believe they can continue to live large at the general public's expense."

Muite said the criticism is misplaced. The money, he said, "is not going into anybody's pocket. It will all be absorbed into the constituency."

"For most constituents, because of the poverty levels, the job description of their member of parliament is making contributions to hospital bills, to weddings, to all the social and economic needs," Muite said. "This is a very heavy burden ... this is a small amount of money compared to the demands."

Activists plan demonstrations next week and are considering challenging the bonuses in court, Mati said. Five campaigners were arrested during a peaceful demonstration against the package last month, but a judge later ordered their release saying they had the right to protest.

The average monthly salary and allowances for a Kenyan lawmaker is $13,000. The average monthly income for a Kenyan is $47, according to the Movement for Political Accountability, a nonpartisan coalition of watchdog organizations.

The lawmakers' bonus is "unacceptable. The standard of low income Kenyans needs to be increased," said Samuel Karani, a 36-year-old watchman in the capital, Nairobi.

"Our MPs proved to be a selfish species and gluttons. They should have cared about the less fortunate people in the society and come up with bills that address their plight."

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Associated Press writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed contributed to this report.