‘Jeff Koinange Live’ interview returns to haunt Australian Senator Lucy Gichuhi – VIDEO
Embattled Kenyan-born Australian Senator Lucy Gichuhi is at the centre of an international media storm after a past TV interview on the amount of her salary returned to haunt her.
Ms Gichuhi, in a January 2018 interview on Citizen TV’s Jeff Koinange Live show, had said that her annual income of Australian $200, 000 (Sh15, 058, 802) is ‘not a lot of money’.
“Two hundred thousand Australian dollars, in a whole year, that’s not a lot of money,” she said when pressed to state her salary.
She explained; “My salary I hear it is on the website, I don’t look at it because it comes to the bank, but it’s not a lot of money, by the way…Politicians, and I mean Australian politicians, work so hard 24/7, nobody, and I mean nobody can compensate them for the work they do.”
The interview resurfaced over the weekend after the Senator was found culpable of misusing Australian $2,139 (Sh160,993) to fly two family members to her “50th plus GST” birthday celebrations in Adelaide, Australia.
“Regarding the media reports about my travel expenses, this was an administrative error involving misunderstanding of travel rules. I’ve raised an invoice from the department to pay the costs of $2139 in full,” tweeted Ms Gichuhi on Sunday.
Australian members of Parliament are allowed to claim travel allowances for official duties such travelling to or from sittings of the House of Parliament, formal business of parliamentary committees and attendance of official government functions among several others.
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