By EDWIN MUTAI
By EDWIN MUTAI
In Summary
- President Kibaki refused to assent to the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) Bill 2012 without giving reasons for his decision.
- The Bill also contained the huge retirement packages that MPs had awarded themselves a few days before the 10th Parliament’s term expired.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President
Kalonzo Musyoka are facing the prospect of leaving office without a
retirement package, following the rejection early this year of a Bill
defining their benefits.
President Kibaki refused to assent to the
Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers)
Bill 2012 without giving reasons for his decision.
The Bill also contained the huge retirement
packages that MPs had awarded themselves a few days before the 10th
Parliament’s term expired.
Others who would have benefited from the Bill were
Deputy Prime Ministers Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, Speaker
Kenneth Marende, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and Chief of Kenya Defence
Forces Jeremiah Karangi.
“Subject to Sections 5(3) and 14, persons entitled
to the benefits conferred by this Act shall be persons who at any time
after 15th January 2008 retire as Deputy President or Designated State
Officers,’ reads the annulled Bill.
Mr Marende who served as Speaker in the 10th
Parliament was on a salary of Sh800,000 and Sh700,000 in allowances
while the Prime Minister and the Vice-President are on a monthly salary
of Sh1.7 million.
The rejected Bill entitled a retired Speaker of
the National Assembly or Senate, a retired Deputy President or Chief
Justice to a monthly pension equal to 80 per cent of their last monthly
salary while in office.
The retirees would also earn a house allowance
equal to 15 per cent of their last monthly salary, a lump sum payment
calculated as a sum equal to one-and-a-half-year salary for each term
served in office and one saloon vehicle of an engine capacity not
exceeding 2000 cc, which was to be replaced once every four years.
The Bill also entitled the retired State officers
and their spouses to one four-wheel-drive vehicle of an engine capacity
not exceeding 3000 cc replaceable every four years, a fuel allowance
equal to 15 per cent of current monthly salary and full medical and
hospital cover for local and oversees treatment with a reputable
insurance company.
Diplomatic passport
Under the Bill, a retired Speaker of the National
Assembly or the Senate or a retired Deputy Chief Justice was also
entitled to one driver, one armed security guard, a diplomatic passport
for the retirees and their spouses and access to the VIP lounges at all
airports in Kenya.
Mr Kibaki, however, awarded himself a Sh25 million
send-off package and the right to a Sh1 million pension every month of
his life outside State House.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission recently reduced salaries for top State officers
and capped their monthly allowances to not more than 40 per cent of
their gross pay. This means that any Bill that the 11th Parliament may
pass will have much lower retirement packages for the State officers.
The proposed remuneration packages have fixed the
President’s salary at Sh1.24 million down from Sh2.4 million that the
retiring President Kibaki earned. The Deputy President’s gross salary
has been capped at a maximum of Sh1.04 million per month
Under the new structure that took effect from March 1, 2013,
Governors will earn Sh640,000 and MPs and Senators Sh535,000 a month.
The Chief of Defence Forces will earn Sh792, 000
while the Speakers of the National Assembly and the Senate will take
home a monthly pay of Sh990, 000 each.
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