The Kenyan taxpayer will bear a Sh2 billion burden annually in salaries and allowances over five years for the 40-member grand coalition Cabinet that was agreed yesterday.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister designate Raila Odinga said the Cabinet - one of the largest in independent Kenya's history - will be announced on Sunday. In agreeing on 40 members, the two showed they had little regard for public opinion that has been heavily tilted against a bloated government.

Mr Kibaki's PNU and Mr Odinga's ODM are obliged under the power-sharing deal brokered by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to get an equal share of the Cabinet positions.

Implementation of the Annan accord, which is based on portfolio balance and strength of representation in Parliament, has been at the centre of a stalemate that has delayed formation of a new government for nearly three weeks.

Mr Odinga yesterday said a compromise had been reached to quell growing anxiety over the matter. And the Presidential Press Service said: "Both parties are pleased with the outcome of the discussions in the spirit of give and take."

But it was not clear if the 17-member Cabinet that Kibaki appointed at the height of the post-election crisis would be dissolved to pave way for a new one. Treasury is expected to make hard choices in raising money to finance the bloated Cabinet and the large bureaucratic machinery that will be required to run the newly-created ministries.

It will have to choose between raising the tax or turning to domestic and foreign debt markets to finance the Cabinet.

Neither option is favourable at a time when the ordinary Kenyan is expected to face serious hardship in a less vibrant economy underlined by rising consumer goods prices.

Each minister earns an average of Sh1.1 million a month, including the Sh887,500 they are entitled to as MPs. This translates to Sh996 million annually for a Cabinet of 40.

Remuneration packages for the PM and two deputies are yet to be determined but the prime minister is expected to earn more.

An equal amount of money will be spent on the pay perks of assistant ministers who earn at least Sh950,000 every month and may number more than 40.

At the rate of Sh2 billion per year, the Kenyan Cabinet stands out as one of the most highly paid group of advisers in the world. The ministers earn Sh200,000 as responsibility allowance every month, for which assistant ministers take home Sh100,000.

Only Sh200,000 of the ministers' earnings classified as basic salary is taxable. This compares poorly with the rest of Kenyans who have to part with at least 30 per cent on their monthly incomes -- salaries and allowances.

Mr Tiberius Barasa, a policy analyst with the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), said the financial burden could become even more as ministers use their positions to reward their cronies at the tax-payers' expense.

Ministers and their assistants also enjoy other perks and privileges like security both in their city and rural homes, limousines, chase cars, medical insurance and club membership, making the Government spend more than Sh800 million on their allowances annually - enough to build 400 classrooms at a cost of Sh200,000 each.

The bloated Cabinet also raises the danger of the civil service expanding by a wide margin as the State hires staff for the new ministries.

Permanent secretaries, who will also number 40 earn a minimum of Sh213,640 and a maximum of Sh423,280 a month, besides the Sh80,000 and Sh75,000 they take home in entertainment and extraneous allowances.

Other senior government officers who enjoy fat cheques include deputy permanent secretaries, finance officers, directors in ministries as well as provincial and district commissioners.

Concern has been rising that these public officers take home fat pay cheques regardless of the state of the economy.

Ministerial positions place them favourably to influence the initiation, implementation and funding of projects under their dockets.