Ruto rejects salary increment for himself, senior gov’t officials
President William Ruto has rejected a proposed salary increment for himself and other senior government officials floated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
The SRC had, on average, proposed a 14 per cent pay rise for the President, the Deputy President, Cabinet Secretaries and MPs in the next two years to cushion them against the rising cost of living.
Speaking on Friday, June 30, 2023, Ruto proposed a 7-10 per cent salary increment for teachers, police officers, KDF officers and other civil servants in the lower cadre starting July 1, 2023.
"I know there is a proposal by SRC for the increase of salaries of different cadres of both civil servants and other public servants. Because of the economic times we live in, we have approved that salaries of other civil servants can be adjusted beginning tomorrow," Ruto said.
Ruto said that the salaries for senior government officials will remain redundant until SRC achieved international standards in rationalising salaries for all civil servants.
"For the other people, the state officers, myself, my deputy, ministers, PSs and MPs, ours will wait. I have instructed the 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 make sure that the gap between the person paid the least and the person paid the most is not too big," Ruto stated.
Ruto's salary
The President's salary was set to be hiked by 7.1 per cent from July 2023 to Ksh1,546,875 from the current basic of Ksh1,443,750. In July 2024, Ruto's salary would have been hiked by 6.7 per cent to Ksh1,650,000in case the SRC proposals sailed through.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's salary would have hit a high of Ksh1,367,438 from Ksh1,227,188 from July 1.
