Court sets aside letter reviewing
judges pay
Employment and Labour Relations Court yesterday quashed a letter by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) which reviewed the salary of Judges and Magistrates last year.
Justice Nzioki wa Makau (pictured) issued the order and directed SRC to hold talks with Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to resolve the salary row.
SRC in a letter dated December 10, 2021 had claimed to review the allowances of judges and magistrates in compliance with a judgment that was issued in 2019.
Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association, however, moved to court to challenge the said letter claiming the review would result in the reduction of the basic salary of the judicial officers.
Simmering issues
Justice Makau in his ruling noted that previous rulings of the court have revealed that there are issues that are still simmering in the dispute.
“It seems the directive by SRC in its letter of December 10, 2021 cannot be implemented as it will lead to reduction of basic salaries of Magistrates, Kadhis and Judges contrary to the imperative that these cannot be reduced,” noted the Judge.
According to the Judge, basic salary is very critical to an employee’s pension and there was fact that there was a latent dispute on the SRC directives contrary to its CEO’s assertion that the misunderstanding is merely arithmetic.
“I hereby direct SRC and JSC to have dialogue to resolve the issues and accordingly quash the letter of 10 December 2021 as it does not accord with the decree of the Court as per the Judgment of Radido,” ruled the Judge. In the letter, judges were to receive Sh20,000 non-practicing allowance while the Magistrates and Kadhis were to receive Sh15,000.
