A push by Kenya Kwanza to block retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's retirement perks could sail through in Parliament.
The government allied MPs want the former president's benefits stopped for allegedly refusing to leave active politics.
The law requires that a motion seeking Parliament's nod to freeze the pension and other benefits must be supported by a supermajority.
With the National Assembly having 349 members, the motion would require a two-thirds majority of 233 members to block Uhuru's benefits.
A motion has already been filed in the National Assembly by Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe seeking to deny Uhuru's retirement perks.
At the same time, the motion is also seeking to stop former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka from enjoying their pension and other retirement perks.
Stopping the perks enjoyed by Raila and Musyoka would require that the motion be backed by not less than half of the members.
This is according to the Retirement Benefits (Deputy President and Designated Officers) Act 2015.
The law relates to retired Deputy Presidents, retired Vice Presidents, retired Prime Ministers, and other senior officers including Speakers of Parliament, retired Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice and dates back to 1993.
For Raila and Kalonzo, at least half – 175 MPs – would have to support the motion.
“Where the National Assembly passes a resolution, a retired President or his surviving spouse shall not be entitled to any benefits under this Act or their entitlement to such benefits shall be reduced in accordance with such resolution,” reads the law in part.
There are 179 MPs allied to Kenya Kwanza, meaning that to have the Motion sail through, they will require the support of 157 MPs allied to Azimio.
However, recently Ruto has raided the opposition coalition poaching dozens of MPs to his side, expanding his tally to 231 MPs in the National Assembly.
Kenya Kwanza enjoys the support of some Jubilee MPs -about 28-taking the tally to 207.
The Ali Roba-led UDM party of 7 MPs is also supporting Ruto including 10 independent MPs and some 7 MPs from small parties.
He would then require just 2 MPs from the Azimio camp to successfully block Uhuru from accessing his retirement perks.
In stopping Raila and Kalonzo's perks, the Kenya Kwanza has the numbers required to do so on its own.
