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Kenya's Gold Diggers

Written by Patrick Gathara

Tuesday, 26 August 2008

Isn't it amazing how Kenyan politicians and bureaucrats have become profligate with our tax money?

The government has proposed hefty compensation packages for the wives of Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Prime Minister Raila Odinga for their labour of love, the hardship of living on the public purse in palatial houses and hosting grand bashes, and the inconvenience of free first-class travel around the world, all in a dubious endeavour to enhance Kenya's image.

For all these, we will be priviledged to pay them Kshs. 2,160,000 each over the next four-and-a-half years. This is in addition to huge travel allowances and the salaries they currently enjoy at their respective jobs. And it is not just them. This year, President Kibaki's wife received a salary increment (she's now paid almost Kshs. 6M per year) for her supposedly expanded duties inspite of the fact that she is rarely seen in public. Talk of gold diggers!! In comparison, a gold medal winner at the recent Olympics in Beijing will receive a paltry Kshs. 750,000 for his/her four years of hard work.

Patrick Gathara
		About the author:
		Patrick Gathara is a Kenyan cartoonist and the Secretary General of Katuni, the East African Association of Cartoonists. He writes/ draws regularly on political matters and is Politics and Society Executive Editor at KenyaImagine.

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written by mkosakabila , August 27, 2008

Look, it bothers me that that's how we've chosen to interpret the (potential) roles and functions of these women in society. Is it because they are women? Perhaps if wives were men there would be less trivialization of what they do everyday, for very many people, especially with such public husbands. Fine, they are not elected. I guess that's why we're all shutted up on the salaries and perks of our stupid MPs?
Get out of here.....but the cartoon is a tad funny.

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Tsk tsk
written by Cartoonist , August 27, 2008

This has nothing to do with gender equity. Why should we pay them simply because they happen to be married to senior officials? By that rationale, all wives and husbands of all MPs and senior government officials would also be entitled to salaries as would their counterparts in the corporate world and sporting world. Overnight our already bloated wage bill would double. And what exactly would we be getting for our cash? Should we insist that spouses sign performance contracts too? To perform what? "Improving Kenya's image" is too nebulous and vacuous a job description.

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written by mkosakabila , August 27, 2008

See? Very predictable, I actually expected that. One thing that's rather consistent among quite a number of Kenyans is their lack of imagination and a subsequent preference for lowest common denominator arguments. No problem.
Instead of writing something off, it pays to think even a little about it and ask some questions. For example, how can we leverage the influence and visibility of some of these people to advance some of the goals we're interested in achieving? Might a 'softer' approach pay some dividends? Especially when we consider the specter of a somewhat deadlocked and so far ineffective GCG? These questions would lead to a series of answers and more questions, including eventually the one that you ask.
But then, never mind, I stop wasting my breath.

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Baloney
written by Cartoonist , August 27, 2008

Spare me the pseudo-intellectual crap. I notice you have not put forward a single argument to support the government's decision or rationale. Quite easy to shout from the sidelines, isn't it?

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cartoonist talking rubbish
written by Daniel.Waweru , August 27, 2008

I notice you have not put forward a single argument to support the government's decision or rationale.

Oh? I thought the implicit argument was quite clear. There's disproportionate venom directed at the receipt, by wives of senior officials, of allowances from public money. That anger is disproportionate because it rests on a lack of appreciation for the work they do. And the reason why the work is undervalued is because it is done by women. That's an argument, however you look at it.

Is it a good argument. Quite obviously, yes. It doesn't justify paying the leaders' wives, though.

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written by mkosakabila , August 27, 2008

Cartoonist:
There's nothing pseudo about the intellectual. Believe me.
Otherwise....stick to the drawings?

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Hogwash
written by Cartoonist , August 28, 2008

I do not see that it is a good argument. Where is the claimed disproportion? Are you saying that the people are wrong to protest the giving away of millions in tax money to a cause that cannot be justified in the first place? And that the only rationale for their complaints is that the recepients of this largess are women? Total BS!

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suspended processes
written by Miharati , August 28, 2008

This is not about women, it is about a return on investment. I elected Kibaki and I did not see Mrs. Raila or Mrs. Musyoka on the ballot, why should I have to cough up my hard eanrned tax money for her? They did not define her responsibilites as I voted. I would have considered whether it was worthwhile to have my tax money going to her.

This is about not being truthful. This is the same as having three pople run for President and out comes the President, VP and PM from all three of them. Kenya ended up being like a kindergarten where everyone wins for participating. A few months after the emotions have dissipated, does it bother a lot of us Kenyans that we literally suspended the way we are supposed to things in order to please egos.

Close elections are the norm and not the exception and here we are. We ignored procedural process. What happens the next time we have close elections? Sharpen our pangas? I know I will, not for offense bit for defense ion case there are other sharp pangas.

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Brilliant.
written by mkosakabila , September 06, 2008

Kalonzo wife to give Sh400,000 to charity
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-...index.html

"I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts."
-- John Locke

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written by mkosakabila , September 10, 2008

Allowance: Let’s be fair to Ida and Pauline on this
http://www.eastandard.net/poli...0&cid=289&

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