Military pay reviewed, teachers’ pain mounts

The government has quietly adjusted salaries for members of the defence forces, the Sunday Nation has learnt.

Sources in the military said that soldiers in the lower ranks have received a monthly increase of about Sh15,000 effective August, in what was described as “harmonisation” of salaries in the armed forces.

Those in senior ranks are said to have received more.

The Department of Defence was officially guarded about details of the adjustment but said that the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had been conducting a job evaluation and salary harmonisation exercise for the armed forces.

On Saturday, Department of Defence Spokesman Bogita Ongeri confirmed that Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) salaries had been harmonised.

He said the exercise was conducted jointly with the SRC.

“The salaries for the KDF are reviewed every four years. You will recall that salaries for other civil servants were reviewed on March 1, 2013. That should have led to the harmonisation of the KDF salaries but we follow the four-year cycle and they had to wait. What the Salaries and Remuneration Commission in conjunction with KDF is doing is job evaluation. There is no increment, it’s harmonisation,” said Mr Ongeri.

But sources indicated to the Sunday Nation that salaries across the board had been bumped upwards.

PAY TEACHERS SALARY
On Saturday, we established that despite the harmonised salaries in the military, Department of Defence (DoD) has not issued soldiers with pay slips for the last two months.

“We have not received pay slips for two months. This happened soon after we received a salary increase, where some soldiers got a raise of Sh15,000,” said a source at the Department of Defence.

The soldier expressed concern that without pay slips, they were unable to apply for loans.

“Remember a pay slip enables one to secure loans in banks and Saccos. In the absence of those nothing moves,” said the source who cannot be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The revelations come at a time when teachers countrywide went without salaries for the month of September after their five-week strike was broken by an industrial court directive to return to class.

The government has engaged teachers in a protracted court battle after the industrial court issued a 50-60 per cent pay increase and President Uhuru Kenyatta countered with a robust statement that the government had no resources to fund pay increases for civil servants.

The Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) has appealed a decision that directed them to pay teachers their salaries for the month of September.

According to the 2011 salary structure which excluded allowances, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) was entitled to Sh894,897, Lieutenant-Generals receive Sh632,984 while brigadiers are paid Sh171,509.

Colonels get a monthly pay of Sh153,317,  Lt-Colonels Sh130,735, Majors Sh102,106 and Captains Sh73,182. A Corporal receives Sh32,250, Lance Corporals get Sh26,509 and Privates Sh19,941.

ALLOWANCES
A new recruit can expect Sh7,172. The most junior officer – a cadet – starts  at Sh11,852 while an Officer Cadet who has served three years earns Sh24,520.

The 2011 increase was implemented when General Julius Karangi took over as the Chief of Defence Forces.

General Karangi retired this year. He was replaced by General Samson Mwathethe from the Navy.

Mr Ongeri said that harmonisation in the military was ongoing because, unlike the police officers who receive allowances during operations, KDF do not.

“The one thing that people may not understand is that KDF are never paid allowances for going for operations like the ongoing one in Boni Forest. For the police they get an allowance but for us, it’s a national call.”

SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem would not say whether they were involved in the awards of the increment, instead asking for more time to respond.

“I will be able to tell you the full story tomorrow. I never handle any official matters on the Sabbath. If you asked me about the sermon we had and the kind of spiritual temperature we need in the country I would gladly talk about that.” she said.