Salaries team pegs President pay at Sh1.24m

It is now official. President Kibaki’s successor will earn a gross pay of Sh1.24 million per month, down from Sh2 million.

The new salary structure for state officers which has been gazetted by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, County Governors who will be elected Monday will earn Sh640,000 per month, a massive reduction from the Sh1.1 million the commission had initially proposed.

MPs who have been notorious for increasing their perks at the slightest opportunity will also have to contend with Sh535,000 gross monthly salary, down from the current Sh851,000.

The commission has been going around the country receiving views from Kenyans on the draft pay structure for state officers which it had developed between November 2012 and January this year.

“The Gazetted structure is based on a review of a proposal the Salaries team presented to the public on February 5,” a statement from the Commission stated.

The commission which is chaired by Sarah Serem will release the gazetted salary structure Sunday.

In its initial proposals released early February, the Commission had capped the salary, plus allowances, of the next president at a maximum Sh1,750,000 a month and minimum Sh1,312,500.

The Commission was, however, silent on other benefits enjoyed by the president, such as shopping for food, clothing and personal travel, which are currently sourced from public coffers.

This is in contrast to, say the American President, who reimburses the public for private dinners and lunches.

It had recommended that the deputy president earns between Sh1,115,625 and Sh1,487,500, down from Sh1.9 million while MPs and senators were to pocket between Sh555,696 and Sh740,927. The figures include all allowances paid to the affected state officers.

MPs, who have taken advantage of loopholes in the law creating the Parliamentary Service Commission, to raise their salaries and arm-twist Finance ministers to effect the higher pay have now been effectively tamed.

The commission is targeting the public sector whose wage bill alone accounts for over 43 per cent of the recurrent expenditure and 30 per cent of the national budget, leaving very little resources for development projects.

“The current wage bill is neither affordable nor sustainable. The country has far surpassed the fiscal and economic benchmarks such as fiscal sustainability,” Ms Serem had lamented when releasing the proposals last month.