Public servants vow to resist reduction of their salaries and allowances

President Kenyatta’s symbolic gesture to take a pay cut and invite state officials to follow suit received mixed reactions yesterday, with civil servants saying they will resist any move to slash their salaries.

And the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has repeated its warning that the country is spending half of its revenue on salaries and risks stalling development projects or sinking deep into debt.

The commission says the public sector wage bill — currently at about Sh500 billion — is a major threat to the funding of important government projects outlined in Vision 2030.

“Currently the wage bill consumes a whopping 52 per cent — more than Sh500 billion — of the country’s collected revenue. As the country continues to spend more of its internally-generated funds on public service compensation, the development projects are increasingly being financed through borrowing,” the commission said yesterday in a statement sent to Sunday Nation.

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) executive director Jacqueline Mugo said the pay cut by the Cabinet, as much as it is step on the right direction, is in itself not enough. In other words, the same should be extended to other public office holders who equally take home millions in salaries and allowances.

For instance, the gross pay for the Chief of Defence Forces General Julius Karangi is at least Sh792,000 in the first year rising to Sh1.1 million in the fifth year— same as the Cabinet secretaries, the Attorney-General and secretary to the Cabinet. 

The vice Chief of Defence Forces, Kenya Army Commander, the National Intelligence Service director and the Inspector-General of Police all take home a gross pay of between Sh655,875 and Sh874,500 a month. This is similar to what principal secretaries earn.

The Director of Public Prosecution, the Kenya Air Force Commander and his navy counterpart fall in the next category of high earners among state officers. Their gross pay, according to information obtained from SRC, ranges between Sh640,681 and Sh854,241 over an eight-year period.

The two deputy Inspector-Generals of Police, Grace Kaindi and Samuel Arachi, have their gross pay starting at Sh532,500 in the first year and rising to Sh710,000 in the eighth year, same as the registrar of political parties.

“As a country, we have to face the reality that the current governance structure is simply too huge and unaffordable. What Kenyans wanted was equity in sharing of national resources and sharing of executive power, not a multiplicity of leaders,” Ms Mugo said.

MPs have also irked Kenyans with their appetite for huge pay cheques even as the economy shows a stunted growth.

The speakers of the Senate and the National Assembly, for instance, draw a basic salary of Sh990,000 a month, which is expected to rise to Sh1.3 million over five years while their deputies’ basic pay ranges between Sh792,000 and Sh1.1 over the same period, excluding other benefits and allowances such medical, house, car, car grants, mileage claims and sitting allowances.

The Kenyan taxpayer also has to pay the more than 400 MPs (senators and members of National Assembly) a basic pay of Sh532,500 in the first year rising to Sh710,000 by the fifth year exclusive of allowances.

CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICES

Similarly, the 2010 Constitution created 12 constitutional commissions and independent offices, whose salaries range between Sh526,058 and Sh792,0000 a month in the first year, and Sh701,441 and Sh1.1 million a month in the eighth year.

Each of these constitutional commissions have at least nine members and a full secretariat that also draw benefits and allowances such as medical, house, car, car grants, mileage claims and sitting allowances. Members of the Judicial Service Commission, for instance, earn allowances of up to Sh80,000 for each sitting.

The Constitution that Kenyans overwhelmingly passed in 2010 referendum further creates the offices of 47 governors who are paid between Sh640,681 and Sh854,241 a month over a five-year period.

The deputy governors on the other hand have a salary of Sh461,250 in the first year and Sh615,000 in the fifth year, while the basic salaries of the 47 speakers and county executive members range between Sh225,000 and Sh300,000.

SRC had gazetted that each of the 1,470 members of county assemblies earn Sh79,200 in the first year rising to Sh105,600 in the fifth year. However, the members of county assemblies have been up in arms demanding enhanced pay as well as mortgages and car grants on top of their allowances.

On Thursday, President Kenyatta announced that he and his deputy William Ruto would take a 20 per cent pay cut while the 18 Cabinet secretaries, the Attorney-General, the secretary to the Cabinet and their principal secretaries agreed to have their salaries reduced by 10 per cent.

“We hope that other arms of government will follow suit and have their salaries reviewed. The MPs have heard and know what Kenyans want,” the president said at the close of a four-day cabinet retreat in Nanyuki.

He also said the government would come up with guidelines to curtail “unnecessary foreign travel” by its officials.

The announcement by President Kenyatta also came as the country’s attention turns to tomorrow’s national conference to be hosted by SRC to deliberate on ways to arrest the galloping public service wage bill. The theme of the conference is “Wage Bill Sustainability through Productivity and Economic Growth”.

But the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS) told Sunday Nation it will not accept pay cuts as an option nor will it be forced into retrenchment.

“If there are people who are underpaid it is the civil servants. Let those who are earning super salaries follow suit but don’t force the civil servants(to do so),” UKCS national treasurer Justus Mugo said yesterday.

HOT POTATO

UKCS, Mr Mugo added, has been engaging the government on the rationalisation of the civil service.

“In principle we have no problem with people going home but let them do so voluntarily na siyo mkono mtupu (not empty handed). As a union, we will resist forced retrenchment as it happened in 1994 nor will we accept even a single cent to be taken from our pay.”

Legally, the government cannot forcefully slash the pay for its workers without their consent. It may, however, resort to lay-offs or enter into negotiations with their unions to accept the reductions in their salaries. In 1994 the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund came up with the Structural Adjustment Programmes that saw massive retrenchments from the civil service.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, who is also the chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission, said MPs would meet and take a stand on the pay issue.

“I cannot commit members unilaterally. It is a sensitive matter because many members have taken parliamentary mortgage on the security of their monthly salaries and allowances . However that is not to say individual members cannot join in that noble effort that is spearheaded by the president.”

The President’s starting gross salary is Sh1,237,500, rising to Sh1,650,000 in the fifth year in office based on the figures gazetted by SRC on March 1, 2013. With the Thursday announcement, President Kenyatta will forfeit between Sh247,500 a month to Sh330,000 in the final year.

Mr Ruto’s starting gross salary minus allowances and other benefits is at Sh1,051,875 a month rising to Sh1,402,500 in the final last year in office. At 20 per cent pay cut, the Mr Ruto will therefore forfeit between Sh210,375 in the first year and Sh280,500 in his fifth year.

Cabinet secretaries, whose salary starts at Sh792,000 rising to Sh1,056,000, will part with Sh79,200 in the first year, and Sh105,600 in the fifth year once the 10 per cent pay cut is implemented. On the other hand, their principal secretaries will forfeit between Sh65,587 and Sh87,450 given that their gross pay ranges between Sh655,875 in the first year and Sh874,500 in the fifth year.

SRC is cautioning that the huge public sector wage bill is contrary to the Constitution in Article 10 on sustainable development and Article 201 on equitable sharing of burdens and benefits of the use of resources and public borrowings between the present and future generations.

Tomorrow’s conference will be the beginning of a national debate to come up with ways to manage the government’s recurrent expenditure on salaries and allowances for public office holders.

At the Budget and Appropriations Committee, the wage bill issue has become a fairly common topic, with the Controller of Budget, Ms Serem and the commission she heads, the National Treasury and other government officials repeatedly warning that Kenya is becoming a wage economy.

When the matter was brought up by Justus Nyamunga, the Director of Economic Affairs at Treasury, The Reverend Mutava Musyimi, who chairs the powerful committee, described the prospects of dealing with the matter as a “hot political potato.” 

TWO CHOICES

“The country basically has two choices on the wage bill; either we accept to keep the establishment as it is and all of us take a pay cut, or we reduce government and then we can keep our big salaries. You cannot have it both ways,” The Rev Musyimi said on Friday evening.

While the focus is always on the top earners in the public service, little is said about the several tiers of employees below the principal secretaries  who are among the best paid civil servants.

In reorganising the former 42 ministries into the 18 under the Jubilee government, for example, civil servants below the rank of permanent secretary in the former administration were absorbed into their new ministries.

It has resulted in situations where a ministry such as Devolution and Planning has the senior officials who were in the Special Programmes, the Public Service, Planning and Northern Kenya and Arid Lands ministries in the grand coalition government.

The reorganisation resulted in situations, often evident when ministries’ accounting officers meet the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, where one ministry has several former chief finance officers— some having few or no duties.

By Walter Menya, John Ngirachu, Wanjiru Macharia, Philip Bwayo, Abdimalik Hajir, Winnie Atieno and James Ngunjiri