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Thursday, February 13, 2025
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Thank God:Kibaki rejects Mps hefty send off package

President Mwai Kibaki has Saturday declined to assent to the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Bill No. 86 of 2012 as enacted by the National Assembly on Thursday.

Consequently, President Kibaki has directed the Attorney General to redraft the Bill to ensure compliance with the Constitution and the law and submit it and the accompanying explanatory memorandum to the Speaker with immediate effect.

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Members of Parliament Wednesday night used the cover of darkness to connive and award themselves a whopping Sh 9.3 million send off package each.

They also lavished President Kibaki with a retirement package handing him Sh12.6 million lump sum pay. On top of this the President would get Sh 560, 000 monthly pension, an entertainment allowance of Sh105,000  and Sh161,000 house allowance. The President earns a monthly basic salary of Sh700,000.

Also to benefit are Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputies Uhuru Kenyatta and Musalia Mudavadi, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Speaker Kenneth Marende and his Deputy Farah Maalim.

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In the gravy train are heads of security forces, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice and his Deputy, Secretary to the Cabinet and the Attorney General.

Worryingly, the MPs reinstated the Sh9.3 million gratuity payment rejected by President Kibaki less than a month ago.

The gratuity had been contained in amendments to the Finance Bill 2012, but the MPs sneaked it in through another Bill, The Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Bill 2012.

Calculated to cover all the 224 MPs the taxpayer would cough at least Sh2 billion to pamper the legislators.

Coming with the package was one armed security guard, diplomatic passport for both MP and spouse, access to VIP lounges at all airports within Kenya and a maintenance expense for all.

Finance Minister Robinson Githae sneaked the amendments on Wednesday night to hand the MPs the package. Curiously, the amendments were not printed on the Order Paper and were only hinted at by Githae on the floor of the House and endorsed without any reference to their contents.

The package was arrived at by calculating 31 per cent of the MPs’ basic pay of Sh200, 000 per month from the time they were sworn in on January 15, 2008 up to August 26, 2010.

Thereafter, they would benefit from 31 per cent of their gross pay of Sh 851,000 as severance pay from August 27, 2010 until January 14, 2013 when their term expires.

Also to benefit from the pay would have been the  retired Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate and their deputies, the Prime Minister, the Vice President, the Deputy Prime Ministers, Chief Justice and their Deputies,  Chief of Defence Force, Director of National Intelligence Service, Secretary to the Cabinet, Inspector General of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

On Friday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga opposed attempts by Members of Parliament to award themselves the send off pack.

Raila termed the move unacceptable and an attempt by MPs to blackmail the Executive in order to have their way.

In a statement, the PM said the passage of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Amendment Bill and that of Retirement Benefits for Deputy President and Designated State Officers Bill 2012 amounted to treachery by Parliament.

He said the Bills will overshadow the significant achievements that the Tenth Parliament and the Grand Coalition Government have been credited with.

“The recommendations of the two Bills are unacceptable, unjustifiable and border on criminality. ” The PM’s statement read.

Raila said he is consulting with the President on the matter.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta  also rejected  the retirement emoluments, saying his time for retire is not yet.

He called for its removal, but said President Kibaki, VP Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga  should get their benefits because their time to retire is nigh.

The DPM explained  that when he served at the  treasury as Finance Minister, he had had to deal with  similar  demands from  MPs .

Source:kbc

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