Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s hue and cry over delayed release of his Sh1 billion perk is karma as he, ten years ago, blocked former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka from accessing their retirement perks.
In what can be best explained as ‘what you sow is what you reap or better still the Biblical teaching in Luke 6:38 ;Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you’, Uhuru then, refused to sign into law, a bill that would have seen Raila and Kalonzo access their benefits.
Even after his troops in Parliament rejected his advice not to pass the bill; Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated State Officers) they went ahead and approved it in Parliament on April 30 2014 and presented it to him at State House where he refused to assent into law giving one condition ‘For Raila and Kalonzo to enjoy the perks, they needed to quit from active politics’.
The upshot of Uhuru’s actions was that the duo, who were then members of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) were denied millions of shillings in retirement benefits, a fleet of State-maintained cars, VIP protection and a retinue of qualified employees of their choice paid for by the government.
Not even the presence of the National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, Majority Leader Aden Duale and Clerk of the National Assembly Justin Bundi, could sway Uhuru to approve the bill.
The former President believed ascenting the bill into law would mean “shooting himself in the foot” as the monies would be meant to fund private political ambitions which Uhuru and his handlers interpreted as a political suicide as they would be empowered to dethrone him.
Raila criticized Uhuru for the move, maintaining that while third President the late Mwai Kibaki who was his Co-Principal in the grand coalition government between 2008 -2013, had served his two terms and hence had retired, his office of the Prime Minister was only for one term.
“They have refused to give me my dues for the term I served as Prime Minister when my counterpart who was my co principal got everything. They even went to Parliament to cancel the very minimum in the bill. The money is not meant for political activities because I should get 80 per cent of my salary,” Raila said then.
It was then that Uhuru wrote a memo to Parliament that gave rise to the amendment of the Act and this saw the Cord brigade turn to the High Court and in 2020, the three Judge bench to nullify section four of the Act which informed the Uhuru administration to deny the two leaders their perks.
The Act spelt out active participation in politics, removal from office for violation of the Constitution and conviction for an offence as grounds to deny one the perks.
“A declaration be and is hereby issued that section 4 of the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and designated State Officers) Act, 2015 is unconstitutional on grounds that it offends the doctrine of separation of powers and the common law principles of ambiguity, uncertainty, vagueness, unreasonableness, double jeopardy and retrospective application,” the judges ruled.
The former President has found himself in unfamiliar territories accusing the President William Ruto led administration of frustrating his office over Sh1 billion funds and turned to the media to seek help.
Just like Uhuru’s position in 2015, President Ruto’s spanner boys led by National Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa and Speaker Moses Wetanglua have in the past wanted Uhuru to quit form active politics for him to enjoy his retirement perks.
“Uhuru Kenyatta, this is free advice… The law says when you retire, after six months no politics. Please abide by the law,” Wetangula said on April 30 last year in a church function attended by the President at Makutano in West Pokot.
Despite being the Jubilee party leader, Uhuru is also the Azimio coalition chairperson. But his spokesperson Kanze Dena on Monday explained that the court dispute surrounding the leadership of the party has made it impossible for him to hand over.
“If you remember clearly after the inauguration, there was an NDC that was held by the Jubilee with the purpose being to begin the process of handing over the chairmanship, but as you know things went as they went and the matter is currently in court,” she said
“So, inevitably, he remains the chairman of Jubilee, because Jubilee is one of the key parties of the Azimio coalition,” she added. Kanze was, however, quick to point out this should not be the basis for the government to subject him to the treatment he is currently receiving. She noted that the retired head of state has lately kept off political matters.
The political pundits and leaders nonetheless maintain that despite Uhuru’s conduct when he was the President, two wrongs don’t make a right and want law to be followed. “The precedence should just be stopped by the strict adherence of the law, the decent thing is to abide by the law and the constitution,” National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said.
On his part political analyst Charles Nganga said “While it is important for leaders to understand that power is transient, it is also equally crucial for leaders to understand that they should not do to others what they would cry if the same is undone to them, the best thing for President Ruto is to abide by the law and reject overtures to punish his predecessor.”