Salary cuts targeting civil servants are now set to start in October 2022. From October, civil servants will be losing Sh. 2 billion weekly in slashed allowances.
According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission chairperson Lyn Mengich, the cuts will eliminate and merge some perks from October. This will see civil servants lose Sh. 100 billion annually from their salaries.
The targeted allowances include entertainment, responsibility, medical and utility, which cover items such as water, electricity and phone calls. In addition, daily subsistence allowance or per diem, will also be reviewed. According to the SRC, per diem is the most abused type of allowance within the civil service.
“There are currently over 247 remunerative and facilitative allowances, up from 31 in 1999, payable within the public sector and they have the effect of doubling a worker’s monthly pay and account for 48 percent of the State wage bill,” a report that appeared in a local daily said.
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“The State aims to cap allowances at a maximum of 40 percent of a public worker’s gross pay, shifting from the present unregulated model that inflates the workers’ take-home.”
Apart from the salary cuts, civil servants will also not enjoy any pay increases until 2025.
“In terms of the analysis, we are at 80 percent now, then we will issue an advisory to the institutions on the new structure. We will do this in the next three months,” said Mengich.
“A number of institutions like university councils have been approving other allowances yet they do not have the mandate to do this. We are analysing then we will say this is what it (allowances plan) should look like.”
Currently, the wage bill for the 923,000 public servants stands at more than Sh. 890 billion. This has been an increase from the Sh. 458 billion wage bill that was recorded in 2013.
