Kenya's President William Ruto has formed a team to address concerns on the retirement benefits and priviledges of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta following an unlikely storm between the two former political allies.
It comes after Kenyatta went public on his alleged tribulations at the hands of his former deputy despite constitutional guarantees on the benefits due to retired presidents and deputy presidents.
Ruto and Kenyatta held talks on the phone on Tuesday regarding the concerns, the president's spokesperson said in a post on X platform.
"President Ruto has consequently constituted a team, led by the head of public service, to immediately address all the issues raised, including the location of the retired President’s office and the attendant staff establishment," it said.
Budget freeze
Kenyatta is Kenya's only surviving former president following the deaths of Daniel arap Moi in February 2020 and Mwai Kibaki in April 2022. He is entitled to lavish benefits including state cars, an office and support staff.
Ruto served as Kenyatta's deputy for 10 years from 2012 to September 2022. But the pair fell out in the run-up to the 2022 election when Kenyatta backed opposition leader Raila Odinga.
Ruto went on to win the election in the first round albeit with a slim margin.
Kenyatta's spokesperson on Monday accused the government of refusing to pay for the former president's office and freezing his budgetary allocation of one billion Kenyan shillings ($7.7m) for the last two financial years.
New vehicles
Kenyatta also took issue with the government's alleged refusal to buy him new vehicles as stipulated in the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, his spokesperson Kanze Dena said in a press conference.
The spokesperson said Kenyatta currently has nine vehicles available for his use, including a Mercedes-Benz and Range Rover, which were allocated by the state when he left office in September 2022.
The vehicles are however, yet to be replaced as the law demands, while Kenyatta's fuel card was discontinued in March 2023 and he now pays for fuel from his own pocket, the spokesperson added.
But in a rejoinder on Monday, Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said Kenyatta had received a total of 14 vehicles from the state.
The vehicles were being fuelled regularly, and there was evidence Kenyatta refuelled as recent as May 15th, he added.
On the issue of withholding Kenyatta's budget, Mwaura said Kenya can account for budgetary allocations for the ex-president's office.
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