Mama Ngina Kenyatta’s Monthly Pension Increases to Sh679,800

Former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta has had her monthly pension raised by over Sh100,000 amid renewed scrutiny over her family’s multi-billion-shilling estate.

Citing Treasury documents, Business Daily reports that Mama Ngina’s pension was increased to Sh679,800 from Sh568,218 she earned in 2018 for being the spouse of Kenya’s founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who died in 1978.

Mama Ngina, 89, receives the monthly pension payment in line with the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act of 2003, which provides for a spouse of a sitting or a retired president to be paid 40 percent of the current salary paid to the sitting president should their husband die.

“Spouse benefits upon the death of a serving President or of a retired President who is in receipt of or who is entitled to a pension under this Act, his surviving spouse shall be entitled to benefits amounting to fifty percent of such pension,” says the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act.

Some legal experts have contested the payment, arguing that the law cannot be applied retrospectively and should only apply to the spouse of a sitting or retired president who died after 2003 when the law came into effect.

The retirement benefits enjoyed by Mama Ngina have often come under heavy criticism on grounds of her family’s massive wealth.

While her personal fortune remains unknown, the Kenyattas are considered one of Africa’s wealthiest families, with its vast business interests spanning transport, banking, insurance, hotels, farming, land ownership and media.

Some leaders allied to President Ruto have recently called for a tax audit on Kenyatta’s businesses over claims that they received waivers. They also wanted an audit on land rates paid by the family on thousands of acres they own across the country.

The push for the probe came months after Ruto took over as the country’s fifth president following the exit of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.