En stol i det nyrenoverede parlament i Nairobi koster det samme som en årsløn for mange kenyanere og politikerne er i forvejen nogle af de bedst gagerede i Afrika – samtidig gøres parlamentet elektronisk.
Each seat in Kenya’s newly refurbished parliament are costing about 3.000 US dollar (ca. 18.000 DKR), BBC online reports Tuesday.
The 350 red chairs, made by the country’s prisons department, are fireproof and come with a 30-year guarantee. The original tender was given to a company outside the country but was cancelled when some MPs discovered that each chair would cost 5.000 dollar.
Officials say the 12 million dollar renovation brings parliament into the digital age and electronic voting would let MPs vote according to their conscience rather than be forced to vote in a certain way by party whips.
MP John Mbadi led the uproar over the original order:
“We could not understand how members of parliament would sit on a seat costing about 400.000 Kenyan shillings – about 5.000 dollar – that by any standards could put up some small house for someone. It was just completely ridiculous,” he told the BBC.
At the moment Kenya has 220 members of parliament, but the chamber has been fitted with 350 chairs – the number of MPs to be elected next March under the country’s new constitution.
Kenyan MPs are among the highest paid in Africa, earning nearly 10.000 dollar a month, BBC notes.
