As MCAs strike, it is time to weigh cost versus relevance

Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) seem determined to burst the bubble of optimism sweeping across the country’s economy with their decision to go on a nationwide strike beginning on Thursday.  The strike will have a very negative impact on service delivery at the counties’ level and brings the entire devolution process into a sharp focus.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time the MCAs are seeking to hold the national government to ransom by downing their tools.

Shortly after taking office in May they borrowed a leaf from their National Assembly counterparts and boycotted work until the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) increased their allowances. The commission allowed the MCAs to hold up to a maximum of eight committee sittings per week instead of the initial four.

The county representatives were also allowed to claim a flat commuter allowance of Sh20,000 a month and a responsibility allowance (speaker and majority leaders) of Sh32,000 per month.

Despite these concessions, the county representatives have never relented in their demands for hefty salary increases which, even in Kenya, look extravagant.

For example, the MCAs’ demand is predicated on the pay structure of the National Assembly where MPs and the Speaker take 43% and 80%  of the President’s salary respectively. The county representatives demand that they should earn 43 per cent of the Speaker’s salary while their Speaker takes home 80% of the Governor’s salary.

Were the SRC to accept these demands in their entirety the more than 2,000 county representatives’ salaries would jump from Sh79,200 to Sh257,500 while those of the Speakers would rise from Sh225,000 to Sh512,800 per month. The current pay structure gives the MCAs 12 per cent of the Speaker’s salary and 35% of the governor’s pay.

Acting as though their exorbitant demands are not enough, the MCAs also want the state to pay their domestic staff, offer them annual medical insurance cover of Sh5.3 million each and special duty allowance of Sh77,523 in addition to a Sh2 million each in car grants.

The SRC is right to insist that any salary increments should be tied to a comprehensive job evaluation. But, of course, the county representatives, like the MPs, would not hear any of this because they are well aware their performance leaves a lot to be desired even at the most elementary level. This is borne out by, among others, the fact that only two out of the 47 county assemblies have passed their finance Bills to facilitate the 2013/14 budget proposals.

The upshot of all this is that the strike will have a debilitating effect on the operations of the county governments in four important ways.

First, the governors cannot collect the proposed taxes and levies until the assemblies pass the appropriate Bills.

Second, even for the two counties that have passed their finance Bills their governors hands are tied because the constitution says that county executives can only incur development expenditure after their plan is approved by the county assembly.

Third, counties are also unable to hire key staff in the absence of their representatives who are mandated to vet such officials.

Fourth, the preparation of the 2014/15 budget which was set to start this month is grounded despite its having set deadlines.

But the clouds might prove to have a silver lining if some county governors were to seek a court interpretation of the law that repeatedly uses “the assembly may” phrase. Who knows, the courts might rule that the legislators’ oversight role is not that crucial, after all.