Serem team considers pay rise freeze, salary cuts for State officers

By Paul Wafula and Peter Opiyo

NAIROBI; KENYA: The salaries team is contemplating freezing pay rises for more than 220,000 Government employees or resort to the painful decision of pay cuts.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which On Thursday started public hearings on its proposals on 3,670 State officers in its first phase of salary harmonisation in the public service, is also looking at encouraging the Government to outsource non-core functions.

SRC’s other option is demanding a freeze in hiring of new employees, allowing for natural attrition to wipe off an extra wage bill as well as encouraging officers to take sabbatical leaves. SRC also plans to order an audit of all public sector employees to root out ghost workers. It may also propose a freeze in the recruitment of temporary employees who currently cost taxpayers over Sh10.9 billion per year.

But its greatest headache will be to negotiate itself out of the strong trade unions that are preparing to take it head on as it shifts attention to doctors, teachers, nurses, and policemen, among other middle to lower level public employees. “We also need to consider employment freeze unless in crucial priority areas, and harmonise allowances as well as remove allowances that have been duplicated in certain segments,” SRC boss Sarah Serem said.

Wage bill reduction

 “We will continue engaging unions in all the processes along the line. But the bottom line is that all negotiations will be based on whether the wage demands are affordable,” Ms Grace Otieno, the SRC Commission Secretary told The Standard in an interview. SRC this week came out strongly, one year after it took over office, to deal with the ballooning wage bill, which it says is no longer sustainable.

Meanwhile, members of the public want further cuts on salaries payable to State officers to enable a substantial reduction on Government wage bill. They said SRC could still make more reductions to save at least Sh1 billion on wage bill annually.

SRC’s proposal shows the Government would save about Sh500 million. But the public is pushing for a further similar amount to bring the savings to Sh1 billion.

“Let’s reduce the disparity as much as possible. We should target saving at least Sh1 billion and not Sh500 million,” said Mr Otieno Okanja during the hearings at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi.

They said the disparity between the Governor and the County Executive Committee members and that of the County Assembly Representatives was too wide and should be reduced.

“The Governor can’t earn Sh1 million while members of his Cabinet get peanuts. You will be creating avenues for corruption,” said a political activist, Mr Okweh Achiando.

On the other hand, Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Chair Omboko Milemba criticised the move to pay members of the County Assembly more salary compared to senior resident magistrates, saying the latter has superior qualifications. In the proposed pay, a senior resident magistrate would earn a maximum of Sh181,062.

“The qualifications, knowledge and training should be reflected in the pay structure. The County Assembly member will be earning more than the senior resident magistrate and this will raise issues given their qualifications,” said Mr Milemba.