The Constitution Implementation Commission wants to block the retirement benefits of former President Mwai Kibaki.
CIC chairman Charles Nyachae has written to Attorney General Githu Muigai and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission seeking to have Kibaki’s benefits stopped.
The commission said the former President violated the constitution by signing into law the Presidential Retirement Benefits (Amendment) Bill 2012 as the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had not been involved in calculating the package.
The law gave Kibaki a Sh25.2 million sendoff package plus a pension and allowances of Sh1,160,000 million per month for the rest of his life as well.
At the time the Finance ministry said the Act amended the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act of 2003 to take account of inflation.
“The Commission has written to the Attorney General and the Salaries Remuneration Commission to ensure that the Act is not implemented in contravention of the Constitution, and that the SRC carries out the mandate with regard to the two issues,” CIC stated in the commission’s first quarterly report for 2013.
The commission said Parliament violated the constitution on January 9, 2013 when it passed the Presidential Retirement Benefits (Amendment) Bill 2012 and the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officer) Bill 2012.
The commission said it advised Kibaki, who was then still President, on the unconstitutionality of the two bills as the SRC was excluded in their preparation.
“It is the exclusive function of the SRC established under Article 230 (1) of the Constitution to set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all state officers and to advise the National and County government on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers,” CIC has said.
Kibaki rejected the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officer) Bill for the benefits of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka but signed the bill for his own benefits.
Others set to benefit if Kibaki had signed the second bill included Deputy Premier and now President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi, former Speaker Kenneth Marende, former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim, Attorney General Githu Muigai, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces Julius Karangi.
CIC said it asked Kibaki not to sign the two bills but he went ahead and signed his one.
In January, shortly after the MPs passed the bill, SRC chairperson Sarah Cheserem said it was unconstitutional.
Cheserem said Article 11 (f) of the Act clearly states that only the SRC can recommend a review of pension payable to public officers.
The new Presidential Retirement Benefits Act provided that a former President is paid a take-home sum of Sh12.6 million for every term served.
The new law also provided that Kibaki be paid pension at 80 percent of his final salary of Sh700,000, meaning Sh560,000 a month.
In addition Kibaki gets Sh280,000 per month entertainment allowance, calculated as 40 percent of the sitting president’s salary.
He also enjoys monthly housing allowance of Sh300,000 and a further Sh300,000 for electricity, water and telephone.
Kibaki also is provided with 38 public servants including six security officers and six more to guard his Muthaiga and Othaya homes.
He also gets two personal assistants, four drivers, four messengers, four secretaries, two cooks, two housekeepers, two gardeners, two laundry persons and four house cleaners.
He is also given four top of the range vehicles every three years.
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