PRESIDENT KIBAKI'S SALARY

The comparative salaries of world Presidents can today be revealed. And interestingly, Kenya is among the chart-topping nations in terms of remunerating its leaders, with President Kibaki toppling many of the world’s richest states. President Kibaki’s annual salary and benefits top the earnings of President Barack Obama of the United States, the world’s most powerful nation, by more than Sh3 million a year. It also overshadows that of leaders of other world leading economies such as Germany, Russia, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. At Sh2 million a month ($26,000) basic salary, President Kibaki earns Sh24 million ($312,000) a year, slightly higher than German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s $303,000. Germany is Europe’s largest economy, and the world’s fifth. President Kibaki’s salary also tops that of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — a trillion-dollar economy — Mr Gordon Brown who earns $279,000 a year. This translates to Sh1,787,925 per month. His counterpart, Mr Stephen Harper of Canada, another affluent and high-tech trillion-dollar class economy, takes home $246,000, some $3,000 more than that another high-flying economy Japan whose leader Yukio Hatoyama gets $243,000. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is paid a "paltry" $229,000 in comparison.