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Protestors attack an effigy of a pig covered with rotten anumal blood during a demonstration outside the parliament after lawmakers voted themselves hefty salary increases on June 11, 2013 in Nairobi
Kenya — Civil society activists spilled cow blood outside Kenya’s parliament to protest political leaders’ attempts to raise their salaries.
Civil society activist John Abuka said on Tuesday the spilled blood symbolises Kenyans’ suffering at the cost of maintaining their leaders’ salaries. About 200 activists marched to parliament while castigating the members, locally known as MPs, for their “greed.” Some protesters now call their political leaders MPigs.
Last month parliamentary members voted to overturn a directive that reduced their pay, hoping it would force the government to pay higher salaries earned by the previous parliament.
Their annual pay was cut from $126 000 to $78 000 by a government commission that said the country spent too much on salaries. Average income in Kenya is about $1 800 a year, a fact fueling the pay debate rage. — AP
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