Is Magufuli the lowest paid president in East Africa? He speaks out

juma chrispinus

October 4, 2017 8:53 AM

Museveni could be the highly paid president in the region

Tanzanian president John Pombe Magufuli has disclosed how much he takes home every month as president of the East African country.

Speaking on a live television programme Tuesday morning, the 57-year-old leader nicknamed the ‘bulldozer’ said his salary was Tsh. 9 million. The amount translates to around Ksh. 415,804.

According to the data on the Central Bank of Kenya website, a Kenyan shilling is traded at Tsh. 21.00 while Uganda’s currency is traded at UGSh. 35.

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On the other hand, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni takes home UGSh 53,996,579 which translates to nearly Ksh1.5 million. Kenyan president pockets Ksh 1.4 million a month.

It is therefore evident that Dr Magufuli is the lowest paid among the three presidents, with Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni leading the pack he takes home monthly.

Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta comes in second with Ksh 1.4 million.

Dr Magufuli spoke on Tuesday during a consultative meeting with key anti-corruption stake holders in Tanzania. In the event, he reiterated the need to combat corruption in all facets of government machinery.

“Some board members of public organisations used to travel all the way to Dubai to hold their meetings there just so that they could pay themselves a hefty amount of per diems. They certainly don’t like what my government is doing now,” Dr Magufuli said.

Dr Magufuli is famed for his controversial decisions since taking over as president in 2015. Despite winning praise for his anti-corruption stance, he has received a lot of flak from rights groups over clampdown on dissent, opposition and the media.

He is remembered for telling Kenyans to shun ethnicity and corruption when he visited Kenya late last year.

juma chrispinus