Proposed pay increases for MPs are temporarily halted to allow consultations on the matter with stakeholders
PROPOSED increases in salaries and other perks for Members of Parliament this year have been put on hold, according to the Parliamentary Entitlements Commission (PEC).
PEC is the body that regulates terms and conditions for the 50 MPS in Parliament. It has been consulting stakeholders on the proposal.
Last week, the PEC decided to put the proposal on hold while consultations on the matter continue with stakeholders.
The discussion however would be confined to just the proposed increase in salary “because that is what the Constitution mandates the PEC to do.”
“This means that only the proposed salary increases would be discussed not increases in allowances and so on,” a PEC official said this week.
Under the initial PEC proposal, salary levels have been divided into three categories, reflecting the seniority of each ministerial position.
Prime Minister and his Deputy are in the first and second categories while Ministers, Leader of Opposition and the Leader of the Independent Group in Parliament make up the third group.
The proposed increase in salary would take the Prime Minister’s new basic salary to $338, 000.24 a year – an increase of 9.7 per cent or $13, 000 net per fortnight on the current basic salary level.
Deputy Prime Minister’s new basic salary would be $304, 872.67 – reflecting a 9.7 per cent increase on his current basic salary;
New salaries for Ministers, Leader of Opposition and Leader of the Independent Group in Parliament would have also gone up by 9.7 per cent, had the increase been granted.
This meant each would receive a basic salary of just $266, 123.00 a year.
The Deputy Speaker, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus and Chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committees would have also benefitted from the proposed increases in basic salary.
Each position would attract an annual basic salary of $241,166.24 – an increase of 9.7 per cent increase on the current basic salary level.
A new basic salary for Ordinary Members of Parliament – that is, those who do not hold official appointments – would have been $218, 231.60 – an increase of 9.7 per cent on the current level.
It is not clear whether the proposed salary increase would be granted this year. The effective date for salary increase of MPs is 1st April each year.
By Alfred Sasako
