MPs have let Kenya down by refusing to take pay cut

The Covid-19 pandemic has made a dent in our economy, and indeed, the economies of many countries across the world. The gravity of the matter is reflected in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s expeditious measures to cushion workers and employers from further battering through tax cuts and exemptions.

Besides the tax reprieves, the Presidency, House Speakers, the Judiciary and other members of the Executive arm of government have taken voluntary pay cuts to boost the national kitty set up to combat Covid-19.

Employees in companies and other ventures that have not closed business have taken pay cuts, all in a bid to forestall redundancies in the midst of an economy that has noticeably slowed down.

We are faced with a dire situation that requires a meeting of minds; all hands on deck to overcome, but our Members of Parliament seem to be of a contrary opinion.

In a vote taken from home due to Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings, MPs have resolved not to take a pay cut, yet many Kenyans expected them to follow the lead by the other two arms of government.

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It is immoral for elected leaders to demonstrate such insensitivity. More so when a majority of taxpayers who feed the national coffers from which they draw their salaries have lost their jobs and livelihoods because of coronavirus. True leaders are known in times of crisis, but our MPs have failed the test.

Kenyans will remember them as individuals whose motivation is money; feathering their own nests at everybody else’s expense.

Most Kenyans are going through a rough patch at the moment and the least the 'honourable' MPs could have done is volunteer a pay cut to help assuage the pain that those who elected them are going through.