During a press conference, Uhuru's spokesperson Kanze Dena disclosed that the staff had not received payment for two years, prompting the former President to run the office from his pockets.
“There is unceremonial withdrawal and intimidation of staff via phone calls at midnight,” She said.
“They were being called at night but we also have to protect our people. Sometimes we get multiple calls of different instructions late at night,”
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“Unfortunately we have not earned a salary for the last two years. I am not able to quantify how much it is that the former president has been able to spend because that includes fuelling, the food we eat as staff, travel bills, electricity,”
Dena alleged during her statement that the government is causing frustration for Uhuru, citing that he has not been provided with new vehicles as required by law. Consequently, he is compelled to use older transition vehicles, which she claims State House has declined to fuel.
“The government of the day has not provided any vehicles and we would like to clarify that on the 18th of July 2023 at 7 pm, all her drivers and security details were withdrawn from their residences via phone,”
Kanze Dena stated that the former president has only received 28 million shillings out of the allocated 655 million shillings for the 2022/2023 financial year.
“To date, the office can only confirm absorption of roughly Sh28 million spread across payment of allowances for domestic travels as well as facilitation of the two trips mentioned earlier that were honoured,”
An evidently upset Dena also mentioned that the current government has neither initiated nor supported any repairs or maintenance for vehicles under the office, nor have they provided fuel for any office vehicles, thus hindering operations. Additionally, Uhuru noted that the security detail for former First Lady Ngina Kenyatta has not been reinstated since its withdrawal in July 2023, attributing this to State House canceling the fuel cards for her vehicles.
“There is unceremonial withdrawal and intimidation of staff via phonicalls at midnight,’she says.
During a press briefing, Kanze stated that the government has declined to renew the contracts of two employees, namely Kanze Dena Mararo and administrator John Kariuki.
She also mentioned that Uhuru is currently utilizing vehicles provided to him on an interim basis and has not yet received a new fleet as mandated by the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act.
Regarding international travel, she noted that the former president has undertaken several official trips since his retirement, fulfilling his duties and responsibilities. However, she emphasized that only two of these trips have been honored thus far.
The ongoing conflict between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his successor William Ruto, which stems from Kenya's 2022 succession race, has become public, with the former expressing his grievances against the latter.
Through his spokesperson Kanze Dena, Mr. Kenyatta accused Dr. Ruto of neglecting to fund his office and withholding budget allocations for two consecutive financial years.
In a reversal of roles, Mr. Kenyatta, who was previously accused of mistreating and attempting to obstruct Dr. Ruto's ascent to power when he was his deputy, openly lamented on Monday about the frustration and mistreatment he is experiencing from State House.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta has alleged that his staff are being contacted by the government in the middle of the night and subjected to threats and intimidation.
