Deal awarding civil servants salary rise to be signed today

Salaries and Remuneration Commission Chairperson Sarah Serem (left) chats with Cabinet Secretary for Ministry of Public Service, Sicily Kariuki, during the launch of strategic documents for public service, held at Kenya School of Government on May 23, 2017. Civil servants will get a salary increase. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By  OUMA WANZALA

What you need to know:

  • The deal will benefit the lowest paid civil servants in Job Group A and the top paid workers.
  • The highest paid civil servants will get a 16 per cent pay rise while the lowest paid will get a 40 per cent raise.

More than 130,000 civil servants are set for a 16 to 40 per cent salary raise from July.

The new pay will come after the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is signed Tuesday between the Ministry of Public Service and the Union of Kenya Civil Servants.

The deal will benefit the lowest paid civil servants in Job Group A and the top paid workers, who are principal secretaries in Job Group U.

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Areas targeted in the CBA include salaries and house allowances.

SIGNING

Lawyers at the Attorney-General chambers and veterinary officers will also benefit from the deal that will see vets get extraneous, risk and hardship allowances just like their counterparts in the medical fields.

Ms Sicily Kariuki, Cabinet Secretary of Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs, will sign on behalf of the government and Mr Tom Odege, secretary-general of the union and Mr John Nzau, the chairman, will sign on behalf of Union of Kenya Civil Servants while Dr Jacob Omolo, independent chair, Central Negotiating Committee, will sign as a witness for the two parties.

Mr Odege on Monday confirmed that the negotiations had been concluded and a deal would be signed Tuesday.

“We will know what is contained in the CBA but we believe it’s for the benefit of all civil servants,” said the secretary-general.

JOB EVALUATION

The highest paid civil servants will get a 16 per cent pay rise while the lowest paid will get a 40 per cent raise.

In April, National Treasury CS Henry Rotich, in his Budget estimates to Parliament, said that starting July, salaries and allowances of all public servants would be harmonised as per guidelines provided by the Salaries and Remuneration Committee following job evaluations, which resulted in an upward review of salaries for teachers, doctors and other public officials.

“We have set aside Sh20 billion in this budget to implement the first phase of the new review cycle of SRC amounting to about Sh84 billion.

"In addition, and in the spirit of controlling the growth of the wage bill, new recruitment will remain frozen except for limited technical staff, security personnel, teachers and health workers,” Mr Rotich said.

HARMONISE SALARIES

According to the SRC report released this year after job evaluations, the lowest paid employee in grade (A) B1 earns a minimum of Sh14,442.

The salary of the least-paid civil servant in grade B1 was to rise from Sh11,553 while the highest-paid civil servant in grade E4, with a starting salary of Sh292,765, was to earn up to Sh576,120 a month.

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