• The resolution was reached at during the third Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto on Tuesday.
Image: STATE HOUSE
Members of the Cabinet will forego a month's salary to help Kenyans affected by the ongoing drought.
The resolution was reached during the third Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto on Tuesday.
"In solidarity with all Kenyans affected by the ongoing drought, the meeting resolved that all members will forgo one-month salary as their individual and collective contribution towards the ongoing State interventions that support all the Kenyans affected by the drought," a dispatch from State House said.
The Cabinet consists of Cabinet secretaries, the President, Deputy President, and the Attorney General.
A cabinet secretary (CS) gets a monthly salary of Sh924,000, meaning the 22 cabinet secretaries will donate Sh20,328,000.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) slates the gross salary for the President at Sh1,443,750 per month while the Deputy President earns Sh1,227,188.
The Attorney General earns the equivalent of CSs at Sh924,000.
In total, the entire cabinet will contribute Sh23,143,313.
The move by the Cabinet serves to complement already existing interventions aimed at helping drought victims across the country whose number stands at 4.3 million.
Already, members of the military have committed to forego one day of pay every month to help raise funds to combat the effects of the drought.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said the National Youth Service (NYS) also offered to complement the generosity of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) to give their day's pay every month.
“Our men and women in the KDF have offered to forgo a one-day salary to contribute to the drought response kitty,” Gachagua said on Saturday.
The DP further asked Kenyans of goodwill to donate towards the kitty whose funds will go towards alienating drought-stricken families across 23 counties.
On Monday, the DP announced that the National Drought Response Steering Committee had released the Pay Bill number through which the funds will be channelled.
Gachagua said the funds can be sent via Pay Bill 880990 with the sender's name as the account number or via National Drought Mitigation Appeal Fund, Kenya Commercial Bank, Riverside Branch, ACC. NO. 1305486137.
"The Pay Bill number applies to Safaricom's M-Pesa, Airtel Money, and Telkom’s T-Kash subscribers. We thank Kenyans and all our friends for their continued support towards this course," Gachagua said in a statement via Twitter.
No official data has been released on the number of people who have died due to drought but official statistics say 2.5 million livestock have died.