The National Treasury has announced the fate of the office of the late former President Mwai Kibaki and the members of staff who were left after his death.
Kibaki's trusted staffers lose jobs
According to Treasury, the exchequer will cease funding the office, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of shillings.
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According to Treasury, the exchequer will cease funding the office, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of shillings.
“The law demands that payment linked to the Kibaki’s retirement benefits be withdrawn upon death and we expect the office to be wound up over the next three months,” a source at the ministry told Business Daily.
Since leaving government in 2013, Kibaki had been enjoying retirement perks, including a fleet of luxury vehicles, a fully-furnished office, and roughly 40 staff.
The lack of financial support from the Treasury means that some of Kibaki’s trusted staffers could lose their jobs, while some will be redeployed to other government institutions.
Some trusted staffers such as Ngari Gituku who served as his private secretary will be retained by the ministry that initially hired him, but his colleague Dr Stanely Murage won’t be as lucky.
Murage served as Kibaki’s only formal policy adviser even during Kibaki's tenure as president.
One of his duties when the deceased was in power included undertaking special assignments on the president's behalf.
Though the actual nature of these assignments was a matter of some speculation, within the bureaucratic grapevine, Murage's power was almost comparable to that of the former Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura.
Despite leaving the government to focus on private ventures, Murage was recalled into Kibaki's retirement office in 2018.
The late former president had been getting an annual pension of Sh34.2 million, or Sh2.85 per month, which is similar to the pay and benefits of senior executives at state-owned enterprises.
In the fiscal year ending June 2020, taxpayers paid Sh243 million to run the officers of the late Kibaki and Daniel Moi's and Mr Kibaki's offices.
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