Tanzania President, John Pombe Magufuli has gone public with his pay in a televised speech to Association of Local Authorities as he emphasised the importance of anti-corruption drive in Tanzania.
“They can leave if they don’t want it,” he said. He said abuse of public funds was “rampant” at state firms and that he had rejected requests from some local officials to more than double their allowances, saying he could not do so while many citizens lack access to water, health care and electricity.
Some critics say his cost-cutting measures are excessive and argue they could undermine growth in East Africa’s second-biggest economy and some have slowed investment in critical sectors such as mining.
Magufuli’s salary is a small fraction of that of other African leaders. He has no other publicly known sources of income and his government said last year it plans to submit a parliamentary bill that would prohibit public leaders from engaging in business to avoid conflicts of interest.
By contrast Kenya’s president earns a monthly salary of around $14,000. Jacob Zuma of South Africa is paid around $20,000 monthly, following a salary increase by parliament in 2015. Since 2009, Zuma has been embroiled in numerous scandals and allegations of abuse of office, including more than $500,000 of improper state spending on security at his private home.
Others with more modest pay include President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, who took a 50 percent pay cut when he took office in May 2015. The annual presidential salary was previously set at 14.1 million naira, which in mid-2015 was the equivalent of $70,000.
Reuters
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