SRC defies President Ruto, remains adamant on increasing salaries for State officers

The proposed salary increment for State officers for the Financial Year 2023 to 2025 will remain, despite the rejection by President William Ruto. 

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) denied that the move is aimed at cushioning senior government officials from the effects of increased taxes under the Finance Act 2023.

The majority of civil servants under the low-income scale category will have to wait longer to enjoy the benefits of harmonization of the wage bill, due to what SRC terms as financial constraints.

“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 says said that President Ruto is within his constitutional right to seek information regarding the harmonization of the wage bill across the public service, but 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 the public engagements and ask for information…we will share information following his concerns,” she noted.

The remarks come President Ruto on Friday said: “I have instructed SRC to give us international best practice 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.” 

The commission however denied that the current review of salaries for State officers aims at cushioning them from the effects of increased taxes under the Finance Act 2023.

“It is not a reaction to the economic state but a requirement by the Constitution. It is not fair for public officers who froze salary increases for 2 years. It is in the SRC Act,” Mengich stated.

She added that the SRC Act set a four-year review cycle of salary and remuneration, 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 also revealed that it needs Ksh.340 billion annually to effectively harmonize the wage bill against the Ksh.22.6 billion it received from Treasury for the Financial year 2023/2024. The cost of the wage bill stands at Ksh.998 billion and is estimated to reach theKsh.1 trillion mark.

“We do not have harmonized salary structures based on the 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…look at the contest …pay in public service doesn’t look at taking pay higher,” 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.