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Civil society groups in Kenya are urging political candidates to pledge to accept pay cuts on their salaries if elected in the coming general elections.

The groups, co-ordinated by The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), say parliamentarians and other political leaders are overpaid.

"We have been witnessing a disturbing trend by parliamentarians in which they have been awarding themselves astronomical pay in total disregard of economic growth and public opinion," TISA co-ordinator Wanjiru Gikonyo told Sabahi.

On October 4th, lawmakers awarded themselves an additional 2.1 billion-shilling ($23.6 million) severance package to be disbursed when their term ends in December. The move to grant 9.3 million shillings ($110,000) for each of the 222 members caused public uproar and street protests until President Mwai Kibaki vetoed the measure.

Kenyan parliamentarians currently earn 850,000 shillings ($10,000) per month, whereas the lowest urban minimum wage in Kenya is about 7,578 shillings ($89) per month and more than 15% of the population lives off less than $1 per day as recently as 2005, according to the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey.

"We hope this campaign will help reduce their salaries to manageable figures," Gikonyo said, adding that more than 20 lobbyist groups have confirmed their participation in the campaign, which is expected to roll out in November.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has also been faulted for his lofty salary. According to investment website Investopedia, Odinga was the third highest paid leader in the world with an annual salary of more than 36 million shillings ($427,886) in 2010, ranking third after Singapore's Lee Hsien Loong and Hong Kong's Donald Tsang.

When compared to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, Odinga was the world's highest paid leader in relative terms, making 255 times as much as the average Kenyan. Loong, the runner-up, made only 38.5 times his country's GDP per capita.

Odinga was also the only one among the 10 highest paid leaders who was in charge of a country deemed substantially corrupt by Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.

President Mwai Kibaki currently earns about 24 million shillings ($280,000) per year.

Although a similar campaign was launched in the run-up to the 2007 general elections, there were no tangible results. In the Movement for Political Accountability campaign, candidates signed a petition pledging to have their salaries taxed, but no such legislation materialised after the election.

"With the new constitution in place, we are confident that this time around, we will be successful in our quest to entrench political accountability in the public affairs of this nation," Gikonyo said.

National Civil Society Congress President Morris Odhiambo said his organisation supports the TISA campaign. Pressuring politicians to sign a salary pledge before the election could be an effective way to get candidates on record on the issue, he told Sabahi.

He said the performance of politicians is below par for what they are paid and their perks are too expensive for the economy to sustain. Odhiambo said money recouped by lowering politicians' salaries should be used to raise the pay of low earners in government and help support various development programmes.

Defending the salaries of lawmakers

Speaker of Parliament Kenneth Marende, who defends the current pay structures, has said the salaries are justified by lawmakers' increased responsibilities.

On August 23rd, Marende cautioned the Salaries and Remunerations Commission (SRC) against cuts to parliamentarians' pay as part of its review of state and public salaries.

"Remuneration of parliamentarians in the recent past has come under increased public scrutiny, leaving the lingering impression that they regularly increase their salaries. This comprehension, though widespread, is erroneous if not wrongful. I urge the commission not to interpret this in a manner that makes parliamentarians an easy target," Marende said during a SRC event.

The SRC was established in the 2010 constitution with the mandate to set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all state employees. For this reason, lawmakers' push to increase their salaries this month came under greater scrutiny, as it was not in their purview.

SRC commissioner Isaiah Kubai told Sabahi that job evaluations for public positions are underway and will be used to award salaries commensurate with job responsibilities. The commission will consider cutting the salaries of the highest-ranking earners, including lawmakers, to achieve fiscal sustainability of the public compensation bill, he said.

Kubai encouraged the salary pledge initiative and said it would simplify and expedite the process. "If the politicians accept to get a pay cut as civil society [groups] are proposing, it will be an easy task for us," he said.