Pigs outside Kenyan parliament protest pigs within

The average annual salary in Kenya is about $1700 in real (green) money. Feeling emboldened by an absence of negative reaction to the latest free and fair parliamentary election, newly-elected members of the Kenyan legislature are demanding a rather hefty increase to their stipends. They think they're worth $10,000... per month!

The 416 MPs – 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate -- say they deserve a salary 70 times greater than the national average because they work very hard. They also argue that they spend some of the money paying off the constituents who elected them.

In one of the last sessions before March's election, MPs in the previous Parliament gave themselves a $107,000 golden handshake. The package also provided them with an armed guard, a diplomatic passport and access to airport VIP lounges.

Parliament's kleptomania has not gone done well with the public. A number of civil society groups have organized ["Organized"? In Africa? Ed.] protests, including an "Occupy Parliament" demonstration, part of which can be seen in this picture from BBC.

Walt could not confirm the presence in Nairobi of Canadian Senator Mike Puffy, so must assume that the supersized swine is someone or something else.

"We have spilled the blood of the pigs to show that the MPs are greedy like pigs," said Boniface Mwangi, an organizer of the Occupy Parliament demo. Reuters reports that Mwangi and other protesters were promptly arrested by police, shown above anticipating a feast of po'k chops.

Earlier, protesters blocked MPs from entering parliament and demanded that they sign a petition rejecting the proposed salary. A BBC correspondent saw only one MP signing the petition, though she is not sure he knew what he was signing.