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November 15, 2008

A MILLION SALARIES OF MPS AND THEIR REFUSAL TO PAY TAXES IS A CONTINUATION OF LOOTING OF THE KENYAN ECONOMY BY MPS

Last week, Kenyan citizens were treated to yet another spectacle where MPs said “No” to the taxation of their salaries. As a country, Kenya’s economy has been reliant on hand outs by IMF and World Bank while the country’s politics, economy and culture is under the control of Western powers because of the so called “Aid leverage”.

Under the circumstances, the issue of a million salaries for MPs and the refusal of the same MPs that money they have looted cannot be taxed must be seen within the context of Parliamentarians more interested in filling their stomachs that serving the Kenyan people or seeking to bring a change in the lives of Kenyans who elected them to Parliament.

The amount of money Kenyan MPs continue to earn on a monthly basis is far much higher than what MPs in the advanced capitalist countries are earning and where the standards of living are also very high. Squarely put, Kenya cannot afford to pay MPs the kind of salaries they are earning and it is on top of this looting that the refusal by MPs that their salaries cannot be taxed takes an even more pathetic bent.

Mapambano online takes the view that the behaviour of the MPs in relation to their salaries is typical in a class society such as Kenya and where members of the ruling class are in decision making positions.

Under capitalism, and as has been proven in the Kenyan case, politics is business with the tax payer’s money being the “capital base”, politics the “commodity” to be sold with profits trickling down to the politicians through their huge and unacceptable salaries. The losers are the Kenyan tax payer and poor Wananchi going without medical services because MPs have stolen money for medical supplies through their salaries.

There is no solution to the kind of plunder playing in Kenya through the MPs until the working people whose tax money pay the hefty salaries begin to organize for a power take-over. Today, the question which has to be posed by Kenyan revolutionaries seeking to turn the tables against the tumbo Kubwa MPs is whether there is a force that can organize workers and the oppressed majority in Kenya to take over the instruments of power currently on the hands of the thieving ruling class. A different class of workers with a program of reducing MPs salaries needs to get to Parliament.

The issue of a Party that can address the rot of capitalism in Kenya and which can provide a clear alternative to the current politics of looting will remain high on Mapambano Online’s agenda. Kenya needs a government where an MP should earn no more than what is necessary to sustain the MP and to accord the MP the opportunity to serve in their position. This amount is far from one million under the current circumstances. Even then, MPs must pay taxes otherwise there is no justification why Kenyan workers should be doing so.

Mapambano Editorial Board