Salaries shocker for civil servants
Civil servants will have to wait for two years to get the next pay review, Salaries and Remuneration Commission has said.
The commission yesterday announced there will be no review of the basic salary structures, allowances and benefits paid in the public sector in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years.
Commission chair Lyn Mengich said salary notch adjustments in existing structures, as set or advised by SRC, will continue to be applied within the budget allocation.
She said it is projected Sh82 billion will be saved during the two-year period. The wage bill, she added, will go down to 48 per cent from the current 51.2 per cent.
Speaking when she released the outcome of the Third Public Sector Remuneration Review Cycle for 2021/22 to 2024/25 in Nairobi, Mengich said during the period, no additional funding will be provided for implementation of job evaluation results.
Job evaluation
“Public sector institutions may implement job evaluation results, by placing jobs in the rightful job evaluation grading, within the existing salary structures and approved budgets subject to confirmation to SRC that the funding is provided for in the current budget,” Mengich stated.
She was accompanied by Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui, Treasury and Labour Chief Administrative Secretaries Alex Simiyu and Stephen ole Ntutu and SRC board vice-chair Dalmas Otieno.
But in a rejoinder, workers’ representatives reacted angrily to the directive, terming it an abuse of SRC’s constitutional mandate.
Kenya Universities Staff Union secretary general Charles Mukhwaya, said the union will challenge the directive in court and “any other” means.
He accused the commission of failing to involve stakeholders in making the decision.
“Stakeholders need to be brought on board and share the problems and challenges the government is talking about before arriving at such far-reaching conclusions,” he told People Daily.
His Kenya National Union of Nurses conterpart Seth Panyako said he will resist the directive.
“The cost of living keeps going up and inflation is on the rise. The purchasing power of workers must be restored.
SRC has no powers to freeze Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) because they are governed by law.”
SRC, he said, must come out and tell workers what will happen to CBAs that are yet to be implemented.
“For instance, the Sh13 billion CBA between the employer and university workers is yet to be implemented in full; we are owed Sh7.2 billion.
Does the order given imply it will not be implemented until after 2023?”
Mengich said public sector institutions will be required to fully implement the Allowances and Benefits Policy and the commission will review the situation after two fiscal years.
“This review will be based on the status of the economy, guide on the way forward for the remaining period of the third remuneration and benefits review cycle.”
She said SRC will review the situation after the embargo, and based on the status of the economy, guide on the way forward for the remaining period of the third remuneration and benefits review cycle.
She said the remuneration review cycle was undertaken within the context of the prevailing challenges posed by the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and the resultant containment measures have had and continues to impact the global economy.
“Prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenya’s economy was resilient in spite of the challenging global environment. The economic growth for 2018 and 2019 averaged 5.4 per cent,” she explained.
Mengich added that in 2020, the economy was adversely affected by the pandemic, which affected lives and livelihoods, and, to a greater extent, businesses and economic activities.
“As a result, the economy is estimated to have slowed down to around 0.6 per cent in the year 2020 from a growth of 5.4 per cent the previous year,” she explained.
She, however, expressed optimism that the economy will recover soon.
