My take home salary is Sh10k only - Senator Kipchumba Murkomen says as he refuses pay cut

My take home salary is less than Sh10k - Murkomen says as he refuses pay cut

Tony Mukere

April 15, 2020 11:39 AM

The Majority leader's gross salary ranges between 790k to 1 million

File image of Kipchumba Murkomen

Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen has said he does not see the need to take a salary cut given that his take home is too little to have any significant effect on the Covid19 fund.

Murkomen said he has a net salary of less than Sh10,000 per month due to loans and other commitments.

He said he was willing to make a personal donation from his private businesses.

"I was clear that I have nothing to be cut from my less than 10k net salary after all my loans are deducted & that I will make my personal donation to help the people from my farm income which is better than donating 10K for the remainder of my contractual term," Murkomen said.

The gross salary of Parliamentary Majority Leaders currently stands at Sh792,00 and can rise upto 1,056,000 depending on allowance accrued in a given month.

MPs have been reluctant to take a voluntary pay cut that is advocated by President Uhuru Kenyatta as one of the ways to cushion vulnerable Kenyans during the Covid19 pandemic.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale said he would not take the pay cut and said it was the duty of companies that post billions to help poor Kenyans.

“The people of Garissa Township sent me to the National Assembly not to do a pay-cut but to make sure that resources and laws are available for Kenyans to be safe in their homes.”

“The issue today is the blue-chip corporate organizations in our country that are posting billions in profit. Companies like EABL, KCB, Safaricom by today should be giving back those profits from the Kenyan people. Let’s not talk about pay cuts of Ksh.30,000, Ksh.40,000, Ksh.200,000 that will not help the situation,” said Duale.

President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto took the largest pay cut of 70 percent with Cabinet Secretaries taking a 50 percent reduction.

Tony Mukere