This archive report was first published on 15 November 2019.
Published on November 15, 2019, a report by The Business Daily revealed that Mama Ngina Kenyatta, the wife of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, receives a monthly salary of Ksh568,216.
According to the report, this payment is tied to the law that provides for a spouse of a sitting or retired president to be paid 40% of the salary paid to the sitting head of state should their spouse die.
However, the payment has been ongoing since 1978, long before President Kenyatta assumed office in 2013.
Mrs. Kenyatta's salary is 40% of the Ksh1.44 million current President Uhuru Kenyatta takes home every month.
The Presidential Retirement Benefits Act stipulates that the spouse benefits upon the death of a serving president or a retired head of state is in receipt or entitled to a pension under this Act, his surviving spouse shall be entitled to benefits amounting to fifty percent of such pension.
Former presidents Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki's pension stand at Ksh1.18 million, equivalent to 80% of President Uhuru Kenyatta's salary before factoring other allowances such as fuel, house and entertainment allowances.
These revelations mean that Mrs. Kenyatta is among political elites who live on the taxpayer's sweat, alongside former government operatives who earn more than half a million and a flurry of other perks.
