The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) has said the Auditor General is investigating how MPs spent the Sh195, 000 given to each of them monthly to pay their domestic workers.
PSC lawyer Eunice Lumallas told the Court of Appeal in Mombasa yesterday that the probe was launched following complaints raised against some legislators for failing to pay their workers, despite receiving the amount every month.
Ms Lumallas was giving her submission in an appeal the commission had filed against an Industrial Court judgement in which PSC is contesting an order to pay Sh124, 000 to George Okoth Owuor, who the Industrial Court found to have not been paid by former Changamwe MP Ramadhan Seif Kajembe. Owuor was Kajembe's driver.
The lawyer explained that PSC should not be blamed for failure by the former legislator to pay his workers since he had been given the money to meet the expenditure.
Oduor, who has also sued Kajembe and Changamwe Constituency Development Fund Manager Mabaruk Mponda, said he was given a contract by PSC with the assistance of Kajembe, who he was working for as a driver.
He said he was to earn Sh12, 500 per month, but some time on December 5, 2011, he was interdicted over unknown reasons and worked for 10 months on half salary of Sh6, 000 per month.
Half pay
He said after the 10 months were over, he was reinstated, but continued receiving half his salary until March 2013 when he was sacked.
He then sought legal action.
He said Kajembe and PSC had no right to withhold his salary for such a long period without a valid reason.
Judges hearing the appeal are Justice Milton Makhandia, Justice William Ouko and Justice Kathurima M'Inoti.
The Industrial Court awarded Oduor Sh124, 000 with interests after it found the dismissal illegal and unwarranted.
But Ms Lumallas said the judge's decision would place the public fund in jeopardy, arguing it was the constituency manager and the MP who were responsible for money remitted to the constituency fund to pay workers.
Lumallas wants the judges to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement dated July 25 last year. The judges will give their ruling on November 20.
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