Kenyan taxpayers will have to dig deeper into their pockets after Parliament okayed a decision to allocate funds for pension payments to former Members of Parliament.

This follows a meeting of the Parliamentary Pensions Management Committee, chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, where the requests for pension payments were approved.

"The meeting of the Parliamentary Pensions Management Committee, chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly Rt Hon (Dr.) Moses Masika Wetang’ula, E.G.H, MP, was held on Wednesday, February 19, 2025," the National Assembly stated.

"During the session, the Committee approved requests for pension payments to former Members of Parliament," the statement added.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Masika Wetang'ula during a meeting of the Parliamentary Pensions Management Committee at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on February 19, 2025.

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National Assembly

According to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), the enhanced pension plan would cost the government at least Ksh180.9 million annually—an expense the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has opposed as it struggles to curb the country’s growing wage bill.

As a result, taxpayers will continue to shoulder the burden of funding the government's recurrent expenditures.

The former lawmakers have been pushing for the amendment to the Parliamentary Bill to have standardised rates that match how the pension is paid in other parts of the world. 

However, the National Assembly did not disclose the specific amounts agreed upon, particularly how much the former lawmakers would be taking home. The issue of payments has remained contentious.

In 2023, former MPs, through their association, the Former Parliamentarians Association of Kenya (FOPAK), urged the House to consider pegging their retirement benefits to the dollar in the wake of the depreciating shilling.

FOPAK, which comprises legislators who served between the 1970s and 2001, stated that some members of their caucus had been missing their pension dues, while others were receiving as little as Ksh3,000.

In their submissions to the Finance Committee, the former legislators maintained that the lowest pension payment was Ksh2,000—far less than the recommended average of Ksh33,000.

The current law governing MPs' pensions stipulates that only lawmakers who serve for two or more terms are entitled to a monthly pension of at least Ksh125,000 for life.

However, former legislators have been advocating for the inclusion of one-term MPs in the pension plan.

Currently, official records indicate that more than 160 former MPs served between July 1984 and January 2001, and the Treasury is expected to dig deeper into its coffers to fund the approval.

Should the pensions be pegged on the current provisions, then the government would have to part with at least between Ksh180.9 million to Ksh240 million per year to cover the same.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Masika Wetang'ula chairing a meeting of the Parliamentary Pensions Management Committee at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on February 19, 2025.

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National Assembly