MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT CONS KENYANS SH 11 MILLION

An audit report has unearthed how MPs claimed mileage allowances amounting to Sh11 million though some of them were travelling abroad and also pocketing foreign subsistence allowances.

The report tabled in Parliament for the financial year to June 2020 has put the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) on the spot for failing to recover the millions of taxpayer money paid irregularly to MPs.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu noted that three lawmakers, who are not named, were paid three times for the same trip they made.

MPs are entitled to a mileage allowance calculated at the Automobile Association rate of Sh187 per kilometre while travelling by road to their respective constituencies.

But those who travel less than 750km from Parliament to their homes are not entitled to the benefit.

The mileage allowance was one of the contentious issues when the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) locked horns with lawmakers last year.

But implementation of the SRC’s salary reviews was halted by the High Court in December 2017.

Biggest frauds

Last week, Khandara MP Alice Wahome described mileage claims as one of the biggest frauds in Parliament where MPs mint millions of shillings for trips they do not make.

Ms Wahome said some of her colleagues do not make any road trips to their respective constituencies for a whole month but falsify receipts and claim the mileage allowance from the exchequer amounting to millions of shillings.

“The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has failed to streamline mileage allowances. It is one of the biggest cartels in Parliament because they (MP) say they travel on the road but they take a flight but they end up being paid on mileage, so they bring receipts that are not genuine many times,” she said.

The Auditor-General has also put PSC on the spot over Sh122 million in pending bills that were not settled in the 2019/2020 financial year but were carried forward to 2020/2021, which elapsed yesterday.

PSC has attributed non-payment of the bills to delayed disbursements from the National Treasury.

The auditor has also questioned Sh8.7 million used by Parliament to purchase office supplies and services for use at county offices.

Ms Gathungu has questioned why the management of the county offices acquired the office services through direct procurement and even paid for them in cash.

By Nation Africa