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Irungu Nyakera, the chairperson of the Board of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), has opened up about his earnings at the state agency.

Nyakera in a post on X (formerly Twitter), told his followers that he takes home a net income of less than Ksh100,000 in allowances, way below what Members of County Assembly (MCAs) earn in salaries.

“Chairmanship is not a job, it’s a responsibility. I don’t earn a salary,” Nyakera said while responding to a netizen who suggested that the chairman role comes with huge perks.

According to Nyakera, he receives an honorarium of Ksh52,000 for his services at KEMSA, along with three net allowances, which include airtime (Ksh7,000), sitting allowance (Ksh13,000), and lunch allowance (Ksh2,000), all totalling Ksh74,000.

“Assuming 2 meetings a month on average, take home is less than 100k for any chairman. Less than your honorable MCA,” he added.

Nyakera made the revelations after being taken to task by netizens following his earlier post defending the Kenya Kwanza administration’s bid to export labour to Saudi Arabia.

“Why is it so difficult for the current regime to create jobs locally within Kenyan borders?” one of the netizens posed, to which Nyakera responded, “There is no previous Kenyan regime that has been able to create enough jobs locally. We have a young population with 1m people joining the job market annually. A job is a job – locally or outside. Go out and bring us back the dollars!”

“Says a man who has a plum local job courtesy of us the taxpayers,” Another X user fired back at the former Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, forcing him to break down his net income.

Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary (CS) Florence Bore announced on Thursday that Kenya will send 2,500 nurses to Saudi Arabia in mid-January 2024.

This is following the signing of a new Bilateral Labour Agreement (BLA) between Kenya and the Gulf nation.

“We want to streamline the process of the migrant workers. We want to ensure that we identify the right cadre of workers, process them well, and follow them even when they arrive there. We will also get to know the terms of their contracts,” Bore said.

Last month, President William Ruto said his administration aims to send 3,000 to 5,000 Kenyans abroad weekly as part of efforts to address the high rate of unemployment in the country.

The move, President Ruto noted, would also help grow Kenya’s struggling economy.

“I have agreed with Bore (Labour CS Florence Bore) that we will sign bilateral labour agreements so that we export labour from Kenya. We want to export 3,000 to 5,000 Kenyans every week so that they can go and work abroad to sustain their livelihood and also bring us money,” President Ruto stated during a church service in Bomet on November 19.