Kenyan Civil Servants To Lose Allowances As Govt Seeks To Lower Ballooning Public Wage Bill

• President William Ruto's administration backed up the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) proposal to increase civil servants' salaries
• SRC came up with a fresh proposal to cut allowances for public officers as it sought to reduce the rising wage bill
• The commission referred to the sitting allowance, retreat allowance and taskforce allowance as double compensation to public workers

Kenyan public workers could further feel the pinch of reduced monthly wages following new proposals by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

SRC recommended the removal of sitting allowance, retreat allowance and taskforce allowance for civil servants.

The commission further proposed a review of Daily Subsistence Allowance (Local and Foreign Travel) for public offices.

Civil servants salaries

If approved, the changes would see civil servants' salaries slashed even as the government seeks to curb the rising wage bill.

SRC noted that if the allowances are paid, it translates to double compensation of the public officers.

"Payment of retreat allowance, task force allowance and sitting allowance in addition to basic salary amounts to double compensation," the commission noted.

How taskforce allowances will be paid

For all other taskforce allowances, the commission recommended accounting offers to seek the advice of SRC on payment, saying an officer should not be paid for more than one taskforce at the same period.

The allowance shall be payable to the public worker involved for a maximum period of 15 days in one month.

Officers involved in taskforce on a full-time basis shall choose whether to be paid allowances or monthly salary.

SRC recommended local and travel allowances to be paid at standard rates of between KSh 4,200 to KSh 18,200 based on the job group.

Ruto approves increase in civil servants' pay

The changes came at the time President William Ruto's administration backed the proposals by the commission to increase civil servants' pay.

Ruto announced that the government has approved a proposal by the SRC to increase the monthly dues of the lower cadre of civil servants.

The head of state instructed SRC to give his administration international best practices in terms of remuneration.

"This is because we need to reduce the gap between all of us who work for the people of Kenya. We need to make sure that the gap between the person who paid the least and the person who paid the most is not too big," said Ruto.