MP Babu Owino Donates 50% of His Salary Towards the War on Covid-19

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has offered to donate 50 percent of his salary towards the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Babu wrote to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi on Thursday requesting to have half of his monthly earning slashed for use in combating the deadly disease. An MP earns about Sh700,000 per month.

“COVID-19 is now a reality that we must face head on. As leaders, we must all rally behind the president to ensure that we defeat the disease,” Babu says in a letter sent to Speaker Muturi.
“My conscience does not allow me to sit back and watch as Kenyans struggle to make ends meet during this difficult time. This is to therefore notify you that I will be donating 50% of my monthly salary to the national effort against COVID-19. I am requesting your good office to reflect the same.”

This comes a day after President Kenyatta announced he will be taking a pay cut alongside Deputy President William Ruto, all Cabinet Secretaries (CSs), Principal Secretaries (PSs) and Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs).

Uhuru and Ruto will have their salaries trimmed by 80 percent while CSs and CASs will have their pay slashed by 30 percent and 20 percent for PSs.

On Thursday, Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka and his National Assembly counterpart Justin Muturi announced they will take a voluntary 30 percent pay cuts in line with President Uhuru’s recommendation.

Kenya has so far confirmed 31 cases of Covid-19 after three new cases were recorded on Thursday.