Mama Ngina Kenyatta, the former First Lady of Kenya, has been collecting a monthly compensation of more than half a million shillings from the government, despite a legal battle about whether she is entitled to the payments.
Mrs Kenyatta, according to official documentation from the Presidency, receives Sh568, 218 every month from taxpayers as the wife of Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who died in 1978.
The payment, according to Treasury officials, is based on a provision that awards a spouse of a serving or retired president with 40% of the current salary provided to the sitting head of state if their husband dies.
However, some lawyers believe the payment violates the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, which went into force in January 2003.
“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,” said a lawyer who requested anonymity because he did not want to be seen discussing the first family in public.
Mrs Kenyatta started receiving the payment before her son, Uhuru Kenyatta, became President in 2013, officials at the Presidency say.
At 40 percent of the sitting president’s salary, Mrs Kenyatta is in line for a Sh577, 500 monthly pay.
“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.
Mwai Kibaki and Daniel arap Moi’s monthly pensions are set at 80% of the current monthly income provided to the sitting President, plus various perks such as fuel, home, and entertainment allowances.
This puts their monthly pension at Sh1.15 million, compared to Mr Kenyatta’s Sh1.44 million each month.
Mrs Kenyatta’s monthly payment has put her in a small and elite club that comprises former top public officials who cost taxpayers more than half a million shillings every month to keep them comfortable in retirement.
Former Vice-President Moody Awori, as well as retiring Parliament Speakers Kenneth Marende, Francis ole Kaparo, and Ekwee Ethuro, are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars every month, in addition to other lucrative benefits.
The Treasury has set aside Sh1.5 billion in the current fiscal year, which ends in June, to cover the retirement benefits of privileged former State officials, as part of a package that also includes former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s pay and perks, as well as the pay and perks of former Vice-Presidents Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi.
This emphasizes the cost to taxpayers of maintaining former state leaders’ comfort in retirement.
The expensive gift has also been heavily criticized on the grounds that several of the retiring ‘State officials departed service as wealthy men with billions of shillings in property and extensive business interests.
Mama Ngina is the matriarch in charge of the Kenyatta family’s large business empire, which includes well-known commercial brands and blue chip companies.
Source: Businessdailyafrica
