Former Kenya President Mwai Kibaki will from July 2020 become the highest-paid retired Public Servant according to the National Treasury.
The former head of state will receive up to 34.43 million shillings (2.86 million shillings per month) in the next financial year which begins July 2020 if the National Treasury’s budget estimate is currently before parliament is approved.
If approved, Mwai Kibaki’s monthly salary will be twice that earned by President Uhuru Kenyatta which is currently at 1.44 million shillings (Excluding the pay cuts taken during the Covid-19 crisis).
The benefits and allowances of top chief executives of State-owned firms like KenGen, Kenya-Re, and Kenya Power are also nowhere Kibaki’s salary that is yet to be approved.
Apparently, the total earnings of both President Kenyatta and His Deputy William Ruto will only be 400,000 shillings more than that of Kibaki in the new financial year.
A retired president in Kenya is set to earn 80 percent of the salary received by the sitting president, with additional benefits like fuel, house, and entertainment making them part with big earnings.
This is the first time Former President Kibaki’s earning has been included in the budgets’ estimates as since his retirement it was put together with that of the Late President Moi.
Following his death in February 2020, President Moi’s Pension was cut, leaving Kibaki as the only surviving retired president in Kenya.
The huge earnings given to ex-presidents is not a new thing as it has happened over recent years. The pension allocation for the retired presidents has increased from 64 million shillings in 2017 to 74 million shillings in the current financial year.
The retired president in Kenya is entitled to 300,000 shillings house allowance per month, fuel (200,000 shillings), entertainment (200,000 shillings), and utilities (300,000 shillings).
The former head of state is also entitled to 34 home workers including; two personal assistants, four secretaries, four messengers as well as four drivers, and bodyguards four cars, including two limousines, that are replaced every four years.
The high retirement benefits have continued despite sparking controversies in the previous years. In 2015 for example, the high court scrapped the allowances of former presidents Moi and Kibaki terming them unnecessary and burdening the taxpayer.
However, the Attorney General’s appeal to the caught saw the continuation of the high pays to the former heads of state in Kenya.