Uhuru sets stage for pay cut in the civil service

By FRANCIS NGIGE AND JOB WERU

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta has set the stage for salary review in the public sector by agreeing to take a 20 per cent pay cut.

After a four-day retreat at the exclusive Mt Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Kenyatta emerged for a media briefing with the news of the salary cut which will be music to the ears of many Kenyans.

With the public wage bill soaring to unmanageable levels, the President said the Cabinet was unanimous that the salary reduction was inevitable.

And with the President inviting the Salary and Remuneration Commission to embark on a rationalisation process that will see the reduction of the public wage bill, the focus will be firmly on whether the other arms of government will take these measures in their stride.

The President was emphatic that the commission being a constitutional body was mandated to ensure that the public wage bill remained at manageable levels.

“The (Sarah) Serem commission should now be on board and ensure that we move in the right direction. This is an issue that we ought to take seriously if we are to attain the development agenda we have set,” Kenyatta said.

Travel policy

To show the seriousness of the government commitment, Kenyatta said, a national forum will be held next week to seek ways of reducing the wage bill, which he said, consumes Sh400 billion annually, leaving a paltry Sh200 billion for development.

While announcing that his Deputy William Ruto had also agreed to take a 20 per cent pay cut and other members of Cabinet 10 per cent salary reduction, Uhuru challenged the MPs, who have been under scrutiny over their pay, to consider going the same route.

“We hope that other arms of government will follow suit and have their salaries reviewed. The MPs have heard and know what Kenyans want,” Kenyatta said.

And signs that the move by the Executive might have an impact on the other arms of government, Leader of Majority in Parliament Adan Duale, who was present at the briefing, pledged to raise the matter in Parliament for a review by members.

“This is an issue that we will definitely raise in the House for members to deliberate on. The President has led the way and we shall follow,” Duale declared after the President’s media briefing.

As part of the austerity measures that his government is taking to ensure that the public spending is checked, Kenyatta said the Cabinet had agreed to draft a new international travel policy, which will restrict foreign journeys to only the most essential.

Speaking during the end of the four-day Cabinet retreat held at Mt Kenya Safari Club, the President noted that prudent governance structures and rules would be enforced to ensure that wastage in government is significantly reduced.

Noting that the current wage bill stood at a staggering Sh400 billion annually, Kenyatta announced his government’s plan to rationalise the recurrent expenditure that add no value to public service delivery.

“After a long reflection here in Nanyuki, I am glad to announce that we have agreed to take pay cuts, which demonstrate our firm resolve to prudently manage the funds which Kenyans have entrusted to us,” said Kenyatta.

First, mindful of the rising public wage bill, my deputy and I will take a 20 per cent pay cut and our Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries have accepted a 10 per cent pay cut, with immediate effect,” he said.

With a pay of Sh1,237,000 per month, the President will give up Sh247,500 monthly, while his deputy will do without Sh210,375 monthly from a pay of Sh1,051,875.

Total annual savings from their pay cuts would be about Sh2.97 million for Kenyatta and Sh2.5 million for Ruto, amounting to Sh5.47 million for both.

The President especially extended an appeal to MPs — some of whom were present during the briefing — members of the Judiciary and teachers to accept to have their salaries reduced.

Looking forward to the next budget, Mr Kenyatta said his administration should be judged based on that budget since “it would be my administration’s first budget, wholly of our own making.”

“I have resolved to reform the process of making the national budget.  In the past, priorities were set largely by the President, with his Minister of Finance.  In the present, Cabinet Secretaries, for the first time, negotiated their requests in unity.  This is not innovation for novelty’s sake: it rather respects the high duty of inclusion laid down by our constitution,” Kenyatta noted.

On devolution, Kenyatta denied that his government was not keen on it, saying the success of a devolved system would be a plus for his regime.

Success

“I’m surprised when I hear people saying we are not committed to devolution when I know very well that if the system fails my government is also in trouble. This is provided for in the constitution and it is not just by choice,” Kenyatta stated.

He called on governors and other elected leaders to strive to provide services to Kenyans “and cut the rhetoric.”

Enumerating the successes of the government in the past year, Kenyatta identified the rolling out of devolution, free maternal health care, the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project and the Uwezo Fund as some of those already achieved.

He added that the government has included an extra 250,000 poor people in the list of Kenyans benefitting from monthly cash stipends.

He said the government, through the Cabinet Secretary for Energy Davis Chirchir, has assured Kenyans that they will supply power to all public primary schools, so as to ensure the laptop project for standard one pupils kicks off smoothly.

“No sooner was our inauguration complete than we had begun to offer free maternal care. Our hopes were realised, and exceeded. About 66 per cent of deliveries are now in our health facilities from 44 per cent in the past,” he said.

The President was, however, quick to point out that the Jubilee agenda was briefly held by the election petition that dragged on for two weeks after the announcement of the results.

“This was summed up by another one month we took to appoint Cabinet Secretaries and time given to those who were working outside the country to relocate.

But I believe that with our commitment to good governance we will release additional resources for our transformation agenda,” he said.