High Court judge, Justice Chacha Mwita has declared that Deputy Governors should be entitled to house allowance benefits. In his ruling, Justice Mwita ordered the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to review the issue and has directed them to set housing allowances for deputy governors.
This has come two years after the council of governors sued the SRC for withholding housing benefits from the deputy governors. The petitioners said that they were discriminated against and felt that the law was unfair because it did not apply to all.
In his ruling Justice Chacha Mwita said, “housing allowance is not the same as remuneration, it’s a benefit that public servants enjoy. They are entitled to the benefits and there cannot be any reason why they have been treated unfairly.” The judge also criticized the commission chaired by Lyn Cherop Mengich for withholding the housing allowance from the deputy governors and termed it as a violation of their bill of rights as state officers according to Article 27 of the constitution.
However, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) says that the housing allowance for deputy governors is not sustainable. Reactions on social media also show that majority of Kenyans differ with Justice Mwita’s court order.
While Deputy Governors might be, legally entitled to this benefit, hasn't @MikeSonko 's Nairobi shown us that we can do without them?
— Dennis Busolo (@dennisbusolo) October 5, 2018
If Governor Sonko has worked for almost one year without a Deputy then I think we don't need Deputy Governors.
— PETER AMBUKA (@p_ambuka) October 3, 2018
According to suit papers filed through lawyer Cecil Miller, “denying them the right to housing benefits is denying them the enjoyment of the right to expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and fair administrative action.”