SA lawmaker stunned by Kenyan MPs’ extravagance
South African Member of Parliament was left awed by how his counterparts in Kenya live largely.
Nqabayomzi Kwankwa the south African MP has been in the country since Thursday.
Kwankwa is part of the delegation from South Africa that is set to have a consultative meeting with parliamentarians from East Africa.
On his first day, he visited the Albinism Society of Kenya with nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura.
Kwankwa rode with Mwaura but he was surprised to see the nominated Senator with a team working for him and paid by the government.
He jokingly said he was an MP in the wrong country because MPs pay their workers from their pockets.
BODYGUARD
“Spending a day with Hon. Dr. Mwaura today in Nairobi, I realized that I am an MP for the wrong country. MPs here have a driver, a bodyguard, a PA, a researcher, a communication officer & an admin assistant. @BantuHolomisa. In SA, we fend for ourselves. We don’t even have Pas,” said Kwankwa.
Spending a day with Hon. Dr Mwaura today in Nairobi, I realized that I am an MP for a wrong country. ? MPs here have a driver, a body guard, a PA, a researcher, a communications officer & an admin assistant. @BantuHolomisa. In SA, we fend for ourselves. We don’t even have PAs. pic.twitter.com/7dQYwFK8GX
— Nqabayomzi Kwankwa (@N_Kwankwa) February 6, 2020
Twitter users had a few things to tell Kwankwa:
@MarigaThoithi tweeted, “That really isn’t aspirational. Members of parliament in Kenya are heavily overpaid and underworked. They don’t need bodyguards and PAs. They’re barely doing any actual work in a country that’s struggling. They don’t have these perks because of our willingness but their greed.
@sharonnembaleni commented, “I don’t believe this. How can you praise such wastage? Have you not seen the poverty and absolute desperation of the citizens of the state you are visiting? Have you not seen how our fallow African brothers are suffering under these useless politician friends of yours,”.
@mcobothi2 asked, “I hope u gave that MP a lesson to take to the president, in a poor country like his they are wasting money on non-issues. You should frown on him and not envy him Nqaba, it’s wrong for an MP to have such, what’s your view?
@Charleswahinya_ tweeted, “Now that’s an MP. You have not yet met a Cabinet Secretary or a Governor. You’ll be shocked!”
“Dear SAs Kenyan MPs are corrupt, it’s not our will for them to enjoy all those but their greed. Here people succumb to malaria. Our schools lack basic needs&hospitals don’t have medicine that’s why we send coronavirus samples to ur country for research. Don’t copy Kenyan crooks,” said @IWantANewKenya