Kibaki to go home with Sh12,000 less than Moi, says Githae

By Ally Jamah

NAIROBI; KENYA: Finance Minister Njeru Githae has revealed that the President’s retirement package has been cut by Sh12,000 compared to the one passed ten years ago when retired President Daniel Moi was leaving office.

Speaking yesterday at Treasury building in Nairobi, the minister said entertainment, house, fuel and utilities allowances had been reduced after being converted from fixed figures into percentage fractions of the president’s one year lumpsum pay.

The pension would remain at Sh1,040,000, with Sh520,000 for spouse’s pension.

The minister also indicated that there was no change on the lumpsum equaling one year salary per term of Sh15.6 million.

He said he had been compelled to table the revised figures after persistent media speculation that President Kibaki was taking away more that Sh100 million in benefits.

According to amendments to the Presidential Retirement Benefits 2013, retired presidents will have entertainment allowance of 15 per cent of their pay, which becomes Sh195,000, down from the current Sh200,000.

“People have been claiming that the benefits for retired presidents had been increased substantially when in fact they have been reduced. Kenyans should get both Acts of 2003 and 2013 and compare to see the difference. The two Acts are not secret and are available at the Government Printer,” Githae said.

House allowance has been fixed at 23 per cent of the lumpsum, making it Sh299,000, down from Sh300,000.

Fuel allowance has been reduced from Sh200,000 to Sh195,000 after being converted to 1 per cent of the lumpsum pay. 

Fractions

Utility allowance was also slashed from Sh300,000 to Sh299,000 after being converted to 23 per cent of the lumpsum pay. Among the new things introduced into the package include pension of the president’s children under 18 years of Sh520,000 or Sh260,000 if there is only one child.

“We changed the allowances into fractions of the president’s pay rather than fixed figures to avoid the need to keep changing the law every few years,” he said.

Revised figures

The amendments also changed the number of security guards for escort from a maximum of six to a number that would be determined by the relevant minister in accordance with the security situation.

This is also the same for home security in which the retired president had previously been allocated a maximum of six officers.

The number of cooks, housekeepers, gardeners and laundry persons have been increased from two to four while the president’s spouse will also receive a diplomatic passport, which was not available in the previous package of 2003.