"One member, who is supposed to pay Sh22,000 per month, is three months in arrears â money that many high school teachers remit monthly without getting followed up," says the banker.
As the reality that many of them might not be re-elected sets in, most MPs are squeezing deeper in their near empty pockets to clear pending financial obligations, lest they are voted out with massive debts.
"I have a car loan, a mortgage and a business loan, in addition to my wifeâs car loan and an asset facility I took with my banker. If I am not re-elected, I will be in hot soup!" confides one MP.
Camped
"You will be surprised I still manage to make it to the constituency every weekend because as a matter of fact, my economic status cannot support those trips anymore. I feel like I have wasted five years of my life â time I will never recover, considering I went into Parliament more secure financially than I am now," the MP complains.
Most parliamentarians, therefore, resort to time tested and sneaky methods to evade meeting their constituents. Not surprisingly, constituents complain to have camped outside Continental House close to one month without setting eyes on their MPs.
One MP says he only sleeps in his rural home when he arrives deep in the night. But even then, villagers somehow always know he has come, such that when he wakes up in the morning, he always finds a âpublic rallyâ of constituents waiting for money in his homestead.
Rural home
"When I have a function in my constituency, I always sleep at a hotel 50 kilometres away. People practically camp in my home. Itâs such a nuisance," he complains.
Often, expectations are so high that many MPs have to live a lie. A friend says he was amused when he spent a night at an MPâs rural home only to realise the gated compound, manicured fences and lawns, and elegantly furnished living room were a faÃade.
"Apart from the living room, the rest of the house was incomplete. Neither the floors nor the walls were plastered. But the big man needed to âcheatâ his constituents that he was doing well!" he says.
Accident
