[UAH] Standard Digital News - Kenya : Mwai Kibaki does not carry around a begging bowl
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3:12 AM |
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By Kipkoech Tanui
Kenya: As far we know, retired President Kibaki isn't walking around with begging bowl in hand. He is also richer than most of us. He owns buildings and businesses, especially our capital. There are farms and other properties that publicly are known to be his.
So to placate him with a home worth Sh500 million, on a private farm, paid for by the taxpayer was morally wrong.
To allocate him Sh700million for an office was obnoxious and borders on moral decadence.
Morally wrong
Why? Because government has not run short of office space to allocate the retired President whatever they want to reward him for.
We must also tell the Budget Committee of Parliament that even by slashing the allocation for his office to Sh250 million is as extravagant and morally wrong as giving him Sh10 million for free. A coin given out outside the constitutionally guaranteed benefits set out for retiring Presidents is criminal act.
There are three things we must take into consideration lest the Kibakists spin the lie that those opposed to the payment are from a different political inclination other that the moribund Party of National Unity or The National Alliance and its surrogates.
The first is that if we don't play by the rules what will stop current and future national chief executives from say getting themselves Sh10billion offices in readiness for retirement?
Secondly, will the office be private or public property? When the former President dies like we all will one day do, will the property be restored to the public or go to his children? If that is the case then you understand why I said this smacks of moral decadence! It is in short appropriation of public property through legalized robbery.
The third issue we need to ask ourselves is, of what use will the office, just like the home, be to the former President? No one, after all, told us Kibaki was homeless during the handover to President Kenyatta.
He also obviously had prepared well for his retirement for it didn't come as a surprise.
Though Kibaki in keeping with his tradition of silence in the midst of storm swirling around him, has not said whether he would accept the office the way he did the home, it is obvious it is a temptation hard to resist.
The problem, however, comes with the fact that this is not only another sad case of misuse of public resources, but also a classic case of misplaced priorities. I wonder how many hospitals or schools Sh750 million we are going to splash on Kibaki would have built.
No volunteer
Yes, Kibaki did a lot for Kenya, but again did we not pay him for that? I mean he was not a volunteer and I never heard of a month he did not collect his salary! And as a sign of our gratitude, we also gave him certain guaranteed payments, cars, security personnel and even support staff all tired up as a retirementpackage. That his is right and it is our way of rationally saying, Mzee you helped us now go rest knowing we appreciate your work.
That should be sufficient for anything else outside the retirement package approved by Parliament is illegal and those who authorized it should be surcharged. But that probably would be the work of the President who will come after Kenyatta because I doubt this bothers him, given that he looks up at Kibaki as the gracious old man who served as his godfather and even suggested that he be given his first name.
Not neglected
In case you think I am hard on Kibaki, consider the fact that already we pay him Sh560,000 pension a month, and annually he will be getting from us Sh13 million in form of pension and allowances. This translates to Sh1million a month.
Certainly our conscience is clear that we have not neglected this senior citizen. What we are merely saying is we should respect the law, abide by what it lays down, if we want to enforce moral and fiscal discipline in this country. The moment we lower the bar, what will stop crooks who find their way into power from fleecing us further and in more cruel and extravagant ways?
Friends this is not about jealousy, tribalism and political orientation but fairness and justice. If we keep building up homes and offices for each our former Presidents, aren't we sanctioning official theft of public resources and setting a precedent where say Governors will also demand that they are also small presidents and should be lavished with the same freebies when they leave office? We have set a bad precedent that we will one day regret.
Apart from asking why the same treatment wasn't accorded Mzee Daniel Moi, who is also inretirement, we must also ask ourselves why we did not go for the cheaper option of leasing a floor for him say at Kenyatta International Conference Centre if we are so desperate to see him pampered in retirement. That is cheaper and short-term, and the most logical thing to do if we must get him an office.
I sign off still wondering what possibly Kibaki would be doing in that office that will benefit the public and so warrant the raid on the national Treasury.
I believe these sycophantic public officials out to please or reward Kibaki in retirement for I-don't-know-what should not be allowed to misuse our taxes; let them go into their pockets instead. I say so not because I hate Kibaki, but because I love Kenya more.
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