Updated Monday, April 08 2013 at 00:00 GMT+3
By Ally Jamah and Edwin Cheserek
Nairobi, Kenya: ?Civil Society groups have vowed to go to court to block any direct negotiations between elected leaders and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission with regard to their salaries and allowances.
Speaking in Nairobi on Sunday as the leaders continue to pile pressure on SRC to hike their pay, the groups said the proposed negotiations with SRC are illegal.
?We state categorically that SRC is a constitutional commission and not a trade union or a market for collective bargaining. Once the commission has gazetted the salaries of State officers, no one can challenge that, not even in the courts because they have exercised their constitutional mandate,? said Morris Odhiambo, President of the National Civil Society Congress.
He added: ?SRC must not make the mistake of negotiating salaries with anybody since that will be acting unconstitutionally. That would also undermine its own independence of setting salaries.?
Tax arrears
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said recently that the Parliamentary Service Commission is in talks with the SRC on the possibility of increasing MPs? pay.
Last year, NCSC secured a court order compelling MPs to pay all their tax arrears, which is being implemented by the Kenya Revenue Authority.
The Civil Society also called on the Serem team not to give in to pressure and intimidation by the leaders. Some MPs have threatened to disband SRC if it does not yield to their demands to scale up their ?demeaning salaries?.
Others want the Serem team to be sent packing through amending the SRC Act or quashing of the Gazette notice that fixed their salaries.
NCSC?s Suba Churchil said the threats to disband SRC exposed the leaders? ignorance about Constitution. He indicated that SRC cannot be disbanded or its mandate changed without a referendum.
He blamed the clamour for a pay rise among the leaders on the watering down of laws meant to vet leaders running for public office.
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