Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta receives at least Ksh568,218 monthly salary drawn from government coffers, for being the spouse of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, it has emerged.
According to reports by Business Daily which quoted official documents from the Presidency, Ms Ngina Kenyatta has been receiving the hety payment even before her son, Uhuru Kenyatta, came into power as the President.
In 2003, the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act was enacted which allowed spouses of former Presidents who have died, to receive 50 percent of the current President’s salary every month as retirement benefits for their husbands.
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“Spouse benefits upon the death of a serving President or of a retired President who is in receipt of or who is entitled to a pension under this Act, his surviving spouse shall be entitled to benefits amounting to fifty percent of such pension,” says the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act.
The current salary of the President is Ksh1.44 million, making her eligible for Ksh577,000.
However, lawyers have been unable to agree on the eligibility of the pay, with some saying that it is illegal.
“Ideally, this law cannot be applied retrospectively. Mrs Kenyatta, while deserving State pension or gratuity, is not entitled to a government pay when the Act is applied strictly,” says a lawyer who sought anonymity.
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According to the Act, retired Presidents, in their lifetime, are entitled to a monthly pension equal to eighty per cent of the monthly salary currently paid to the President, an entertainment allowance equal to fifteen per cent of the monthly salary currently paid to the serving President and a housing allowance equal to twenty-three per cent of the monthly salary currently paid to the serving President to cater for both an urban and a rural dwelling.
They also get two new cars of their choice, replaceable every three years, each car having an engine capacity not exceeding three thousand cubic centimetres, two four-wheel drive motor vehicles of their choice, replaceable every three years, each vehicle having an engine
capacity of at least three thousand, four hundred cubic centimetres.
They are also entitled to a fuel allowance equal to fifteen per cent of the monthly salary
currently paid to the serving President and an allowance equal to twenty-three per cent of the monthly salary currently paid to the serving President for electricity, water and telephone facilities.
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The benefits are seen as a burden to the taxpayer, given the ballooning wage bill.
Currently, it is reported that the Treasury has set aside Ksh1.5 billion in the current financial year to cater for retirements of ‘retired’ political heavyweights..
The kitty caters for the salaries of Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Former Vice Presidents Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi.
Others who get their retirement benefits and a flurry of other benefits from the government include Former Vice President Moody Awori, Former Speakers Kenneth Marende, Francis Ole Kaparo and Ekwee Ethuro.
The politicians are said to be pocketing at least Ksh500,000 each, despite some of them being active in the public service.
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