MP dismisses Sh600k salary as peanuts, two years after telling court he’s broke
By NAIROBI NEWS REPORTERA Kenyan legislator has dismissed his monthly take home pay as “peanuts”, two years after he pleaded in court of his inability to take care of his child born out of wedlock because he was “broke”.
Homa Bay MP Peter Kaluma made the salary suggestion during an appearance on KTN’s “The Way it is” political talk show on Monday.
He insisted the Sh600,000 pay he receives from Parliament every month was only enough to facilitate his expenses “for a weekend”, adding that he makes more from his legal practice than as a Member of Parliament.
Mr Kaluma and the other panelists on the show, Mombasa Senator Senator and lawyer Ambrose Weda, were discussing the recent campaign spending caps imposed on politicians by the IEBC ahead of the 2017 General elections.
“In fact the current legislators are earning very little compared to their predecessors. I for example make much more money from other businesses and legal practice than from my salary as an MP where my take home pay is only Sh600,000 which isn’t even enough for a weekend”, claimed Kaluma.
TURNAROUND OF FORTUNES
The remark was a sudden turnaround of fortunes for the MP who in 2014 shocked the Children’s Court when he filed his payslip to prove his bankruptcy and inability to maintain the children he had sired with another woman.
Mr Kaluma’s payslip for January 2014 indicated he took home zero shillings from a monthly gross salary of Sh600,000.
“I have a family and other children to provide for. I am unable to provide for the child under the plaintiff’s custody,” Mr Kaluma pleaded at the time.
The legislator had been sued by his 31 year-old former lover Martha Akinyi for child upkeep of his 7 year-old daughter.
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