Even before they are sworn in or even see the inside of Parliament, MPs, some of them still very green, are reciting the same old tune of their “forefathers”. They want better pay and they want it now. To them, the minimum Sh532,500 proposed by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) is peanuts.
Some of them are ready and raring to take the bull named SRC by the horns, and run it out of town for giving them dishonourable perks. PointBlank can predict that they will try to do this in the not-so-distant future.
Blessings
And why not? In a country where majority of people live on less than a dollar a day, MPs deserve a better pay. For in a country where majority of people are needle thin, there is need to have a few fat(cats) ones, just to show what good eating can do. In a country where majority don mitumba, it is good to see a select few (we chose them ourselves) with tailor-made suits.
So as MPs soon settle down for serious business, they should rest assured that they have the blessings of PointBlank to ask and demand better perks. Godspeed, beloved waheshimiwa.
Unwanted help from America
Touched by the plight of needy Kenyan children, volunteer Karen W Smith, mobilised well-wishers back home in America to come to their aid.
Within months, she had collected an assortment of goods for the children such as sewing machines, school and medical supplies, tee-shirts, art supplies, 200 boxes of books, computers, and much more. But the container bearing the goods worth nearly Sh1 million has been held in Nairobi since January 26, 2013, over duty as she has been unable to get a a letter of tax exemption as expected.
“We are now being told after two months accumulating storage fees that in order to release the container, we must pay over Sh600,000 in additional fees, duty, port taxes, among others.”
She is now at the end of her tether, frustrated that children in institutions such as Pathfinder Academy in Kiminini, Dago Dala Hera Orphanage in Ranen, and Sira Sulu Academy in Kilgoris will never get the goods. Why have these donations taken eons to be cleared, Kenya Revenue Authority? Aren’t donations supposed to be exempted from duty, KRA Commissioner General, John Njiraini?
