Mwai Kibaki and his Retirement Goodies

Emilio Mwai Kibaki will retire, as Kenya's 3rd president, on 9th April 2013 when Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta will be sworn in as the 4th president.

Mwai Kibaki was elected with an overwhelming majority in 2002, and re-elected in a contentious election in 2007, and had a good run as president.

The overall consensus is that he did well in his 10 years as president despite some glaring cases that involved grand larceny during his administration. These include:

• Scams associated with "Anglo-Leasing" & associated entities/persons
• The NCPB maize 'allocation' scam
• The fertilizer import scams

The biggest blot was the aftermath of the 2007 elections when the country literally burned when 3,000+ Kenyans were killed while 100,000+ displaced.

All that is now water under the bridge.

After the Supreme Court of Kenya ruled that Uhuru Kenyatta won the election, the government machinery started grinding away to effect the transition from Mwai Kibaki to Uhuru Kenyatta.

So... Kibaki knew his time was up. No more extensions by default. And the 'retirement' celebrations started. And the lovely gifts that come with it.

Retirement Bonus

How nice. Kibaki signed into law his own 'retirement bonus' while not signing off on a similar package for his VP & PM. For the record, I do not advocate they should receive the 'retirement bonus' either.

And this is the KES 500,000,000 retirement home for the Kibaki built at Taxpayer expense. I do not know if the house has been gifted to him or it will be 'returned' to the Taxpayers in the future.

Mwai Kibaki has approved a bill that awarded him a Sh25 million send-off package as well as other retirement benefits.The Presidential Retirement Benefits Amendment Bill grants President Kibaki and his predecessor Daniel arap Moi a monthly pension, house allowance and a monthly entertainment allowance.

The president will also be paid pension at the rate of 80 percent of his final salary of Sh700,000 meaning he would earn Sh560,000 a month. In addition he will be paid 40 percent of the current salary as entertainment allowance which translates to some Sh280,000.

Not a bad deal, eh? Let's review:

KES 25,000,000 'bonus' + 1,000,000 per month for life + medical benefits that includes treatment at the best hospitals abroad + luxury cars + drivers + bodyguards + + + [all paid for by the long suffering taxpayers]

Then comes the really silly stuff. Via Kenya's Daily Nation http://www.nation.co.ke/News/politics/Kibaki-receives-more-retirement-goodies/-/1064/1740578/-/mxf36i/-/index.html

• The (taxpayer owned, subsidized & funded) National Oil Corporation will build a petrol station for Kibaki at a place of his choice.
• The Ministry of Fisheries is to construct four fish ponds for him. Funded by the taxpayer. Not for the poor Kenyan farmer who barely ekes out a living. Not the residents of Nairobi or Moyale who need a green space with water features.
• An aquarium by top public servants. I hope this was expensed to the ministries by these 'top public servants" rather than paid from their own pockets.
• The Ministry of Agriculture [aka Taxpayer funded goons] 'donated' 2 Friesian dairy cows and 4 Zebu/Boran bulls.
• The National Youth Service is to also sink a borehole for the outgoing President.
• Two digital television sets by the Ministry of Information and Communications and a number of books. PS Bitange Ndemo said one of the TVs will be in Kibaki’s bedroom while the other is for the living room. *Note: @bantigito (Bitange Ndemo) informed me that the 2 TVs were a gift from the staff and NOT charged to the Ministry.
• The University of Nairobi is to establish a library at President Kibaki’s home. The university will further give a copy of each of the books it has published to President Kibaki, Higher Education PS Crispus Kiamba said. The students do not need additional library facilities.
• President Kibaki was further awarded two high tech massage chairs. The article doesn't say who paid for these. Well, the taxpayer paid for them.
• The Judiciary gave him a set of golf clubs.

This one takes the cake!

National Oil managing director Sumayya Athmani said the petrol station, a sign of appreciation for the huge expansion of the parastatal during Kibaki’s tenure, would be built in the next three months.

So NOCK is a taxpayer funded organization that probably delivers below average returns & is given preferential treatment. So, Sumayya who is a 1/44,000,000,000 owner of NOCK is making a decision that is NOT a commercial decision to build a petrol station based on winning brownie points?

Mr Otieno said some of the items donated to President Kibaki will be delivered on Tuesday when he will no longer be a state officer as the costs of the items exceed the limit stated by the Ethics and Economics Crimes Act. Hmmm, is this to beat the limits & restrictions of the Ethics and Economics Crimes Act?

Article 76(1) of the Constitution also reads; “A gift or donation to a State Officer on a public or official occasion is a gift or donation to the Republic and shall be delivered to the State unless exempted under an act of Parliament.”

Similarly, Section 11 (3) of the Public Officers Ethics Act states: “A public officer may accept a gift given to him in his official capacity, but unless the gift is a non-monetary that does not exceed the value prescribed by regulation, such gift shall be deemed to be a gift of the Public Officers Organisation.”

A jovial and smiling President Kibaki accepted the gifts as he joked in Kiswahili “nitazichukua (I will keep them).” Why not?