Though the president has called for salary increments to stop, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has decided against Ruto. The proposed salary increment for State officers from the year 2023 to 2025 will remain according to the SRC.
Civil servants under the low-income scale category will wait longer to enjoy the benefits of harmonization of the wage bill, due to what SRC terms as financial constraints.
The SRC refused that the move is to cushion senior government officials from the effects of increased taxes under the Finance Act 2023.
“We will be bound by the constitutional principles based on the five pillars guiding remunerations. We set to pay for a job, not an individual. An individual can decline but not the role. We set to pay for the roles. As an individual, that’s a personal prerogative,” SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich said during a presser on Saturday.
Mengich said that Ruto is within his constitutional right to seek information. He is at liberty to ask regarding the harmonization of the wage bill across the public service. He however is not to instruct the commission on its mandate.
“President has a role in public participation. We engaged the presidency. He gave his feedback and asked for some information. Anytime the President might require a report from the SRC, in this case, the compression ratio, it is within the context. It is his right to participate in public engagements and ask for information…we will share information following his concerns,” she noted.
The remarks come after the President on Friday said; “I have instructed SRC to give us international best practices because we need to reduce the gap between all of us who work for the people of Kenya. We need to ensure that the gap between the people paid the least and the person paid the highest is not too big because we are all workers.”
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Mengich stated that It wasn’t a reaction to the economic state. She mentions that it was rather a requirement by the Constitution. It is not justifiable for public officers who froze salary increases for 2 years. It is in the SRC Act.
Furthermore, the SRC Act set a four-year review cycle of salary and remuneration. She mentions that with the maiden review kicking off in 2013; the current review is in the third cycle between 2021 and 2025.
“There was a two-year freeze due to COVID economic challenges,” she explained.
SRC further revealed that it needs Ksh 340 billion annually to effectively harmonize the wage bill against the Ksh 22.6 billion it received for the Financial year 2023/2024. The cost of the wage bill stands at Ksh 998 billion and is estimated to reach the Ksh.1 trillion mark in due time.
“We do not have harmonized salary structures based on cash deficit. We need to focus on productivity. There are CEOs who earn Ksh 5 million while the President is at Ksh.1.6 million,” she added.
The current SRC proposal for salary and remuneration review for State officers, public officers and civil servants is in the public participation phase. The president according to the commission is within his rights to seek information. He however has no mandate to interfere with the commission’s decisions.
Read Also: State Officers Set to Receive Salary Increases in SRC Review
