Calls for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former
Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to retire from politics resurfaced Monday
ahead of the publication of a Bill setting their send-off packages this
week.
Leader of Majority in Parliament Aden Duale
vowed to mobilise MPs allied to the ruling coalition not to pass the
Bill unless Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka quit active politics.
National
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said at the weekend that he had
cleared the Bill for publication and onward tabling in the House this
week.
The Bill is set to come at the same time with
that of Suba MP John Mbadi, which has been forwarded to the Government
Printer for publication.
Mr Duale insisted it was
morally wrong for Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka alongside other recipients of
the send-off packages, to receive the money and remain in active
politics.
“From where I sit, they must quit politics.
The word retirement means you have retired from active public duty. That
is Jubilee’s position. When the Bill comes to Parliament, Jubilee will
take a position,” he said.
“It is not only for the
former VP and former PM, but everybody who will benefit from the passage
of this Bill. They must quit active politics and join the retired
Presidents Moi and Kibaki if they want to enjoy these benefits,” he
said.
Mr Odinga scoffed at Mr Duale’s threats, saying, he would not quit politics for financial gain.
“Mr
Odinga intends to remain active in politics, which he sees as a duty
and service to his country and to humanity. He does not intend to take
instructions from Jubilee on what he can and cannot do with his
constitutional rights,” the former PM’s spokesman, Mr Dennis Onyango
said.
“Mr Odinga will equally not let go of principles
he has held dear about Kenya in exchange for money and he will not
succumb to Jubilee’s fear just to get paid what is due him as a result
of work he has done for the country. The thinking that everything in
life can be abandoned in exchange for money is alien to him,” he added.
Besides
setting the send-off packages for the former PM and former VP, the
proposed law also sets retirement benefits for the Deputy President and
other top State officials.
“We are in agreement on the
people to be covered in the Bill. It will cover senior officials in the
three arms of government… that is the Deputy President, the Speaker of
Parliament, Chief Justice, the former PM and the former VP” Mr Rotich
told the Budget and Appropriation committee.
He said the Bill, alongside two others, had gone for publication to be tabled in Parliament this week.
Monday,
Mr Mbadi said his proposed Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and
Designated State Officers) Bill, 2013, was to be published last Friday
to clear the way for the processing of the legislation.
He
said there was an attempt by some MPs to bar Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka
from benefiting by inserting a clause stopping politically active
persons from accessing the pay-out.
“My Bill was meant
to benefit everyone including Mr Odinga and Mr Kalonzo but some people
at the budget committee introduced clauses targeting the two,” Mr Mbadi
stated.
The Suba MP had previously complained about the Treasury’s move to publish a separate Bill.
“Why
are you doing new Bills at the Treasury when we have sent ours to the
printer? We have sent... the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and
Designated State Officers) Bill, 2013 and the VAT (Amendment), Bill 2013
for publication,” he said.
This is the second time
that Parliament will be seeking to set retirement benefits for Mr Odinga
and Mr Musyoka after retired President Mwai Kibaki refused to assent to
the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State
Officers) Bill, 2012, because MPs sneaked in clauses to reward
themselves.
Each of the 210 MPs would have pocketed
Sh9.3 million as winding up allowance. Then deputy Prime Ministers
Musalia Mudavadi and Uhuru Kenyatta, Speaker Kenneth Marende, Chief
Justice Willy Mutunga and Chief of Kenya Defence Forces Julius Karangi
would have been the other beneficiaries.
Although
details of the retirement packages contained in the Treasury Bill are
yet to be revealed, Mr Mbadi said it could cost the taxpayer about Sh484
million a year to sustain the retirees.
The Bill
recommends that pension be pegged at 80 per cent of the basic pay the
State officials earned while they were in office in addition to a house,
fuel and medical allowances.
Apart from Mr Odinga and
Mr Kalonzo who head the opposition Cord coalition party, Mr Mbadi’s Bill
seeks to confer retirement benefits on Mr Marende, speakers Justin
Muturi (National Assembly) and Ekwee Ethuro (Senate) and their deputies
Lorna Laboso and Kembi Gitura, Dr Mutunga and his deputy Kalpana Rawal,
Mr Karangi and Attorney General Githu Muigai.
The
retired officials will be entitled to cars, office and domestic workers,
fully equipped offices, diplomatic passports and VIP treatment at all
local airports.
The proposed retirement packages are
bound to change once the two Bills are officially published this week.
Parliament will scrutinise both Bills and propose harmonisation.
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