Civil servants given huge salary increase

Civil servants Thursday welcomed their pay increase which in some cases tripled their take-home packages.

A clerk at the Immigration office in Kisumu, who declined to be named, said that the news of the increment was “too good to be true”.

“It does not seem real and I will only believe after I see my payslip,” he said.

In Kericho, the Kenya Civil Servants Union, branch officials commended the Government for the increment.

After announcing the new pay deal, Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno said: “We are spearheading the process of transforming Kenya to a globally competitive and prosperous nation.”

Branch chairman Evans Karani said that although inflation was high, the new salaries will mitigate against the high cost of living. He called on public servants to reciprocate the good gesture by working with dedication and commitment.

More than doubled

Their comments came after salaries for the 120,000 unionisable civil servants were more than doubled on Thursday in one of the biggest single pay increases for employees in the public sector.

The increase will benefit employees in Job Groups “A” to “L” who form the bulk of the civil service. These range from cleaners and messengers to district officers, chiefs and district education officers, among others.

However, the new pay does not include house and other allowances.

But it still leaves a huge gap between the salaries of these workers and those earned by senior civil servants like permanent secretaries, directors of State corporations and other top civil servants.

Some members of this group take home as much as Sh800,000 a month in salaries and allowances compared to the Sh35,275 for the top bracket among those in the union.

The lowest paid civil servant, the cleaner or messenger, will now earn a basic salary of Sh7,829 a month, up from Sh3,000. This is in addition to Sh3,000 a month house allowance and Sh375 medical allowance per month, bringing the monthly total to Sh11,204.

The new increments will raise the Government wage bill from Sh9.04 billion per year to Sh12.6 billion, excluding the money spent on allowances for all civil servants.

Among those to benefit from the increase are immigration officers and executive officers in ministries, some of whom will see their basic pay rise from an average Sh14,215 per month to an average Sh35,275 per month.

With a house allowance of Sh20,000 per month, medical and other allowances, the officers will now take home more than Sh50,000 per month. The increment will be backdated to July as this is when the Government’s financial year begins.

Last month, the Saturday Nation brought to the limelight the plight of underpaid public servants in a lead story titled Shame of Public Service Salaries: Underpaid workers skip lunch and walk to work as cost of living rises.

Nyanza Provincial Public Health Officer Tom Andebe said that the increment would boost morale in the civil service and enhance efficiency.