The government has approved a 7 to 10 per cent salary increment for civil servants beginning tomorrow, July 1.
This follows remarks by President William Ruto on Friday, June 30 while at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) that there is need to cushion civil servants from the harsh economic times.
"I know there is a proposal by SRC for the increase of salaries of different cadres of both civil servants and other public servants. So our teachers, policemen, military space, and those working in government, we have agreed that from tomorrow your salaries will be adjusted between 7 and 10 percent," Ruto said during the launch of the new e-citizen platform.
The president has also asked SRC to hold off on adjusting the salaries of State officers including himself, his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, Cabinet, and Principal Secretaries, saying those can wait.
"Salaries for state officers like myself, my deputy, ministers, principal secretaries, and those other top officials...let us wait for a while please, our salaries will remain unchanged," said Ruto.
The SRC had proposed to increase Ruto's salary from his current Sh1,443,750 to Sh1,546,875 while that of his deputy from the current Sh1,227,188 to Sh1,367,438, effective July 1.
Other State officers who were also set for the increase are the Attorney General, the Head of the Public Service, Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, the Inspector-General, the Director General of the National Intelligence Service, and the Secretary to the Cabinet among other top government officials who were to receive a 7 percent salary increment.
However, the Head of State has rejected the proposal saying that there is a need to first bring equality in salary payments before implementing the increment.
"Until I have instructed the SRC to give us international best practices because we need to reduce the gap between all of us who work for the people of Kenya. It's not possible that the people at the top earn 100 times more than those at the bottom, it's not right because we live in the same country."
The president said that the salary increment will have to wait until the remuneration commission reports back that the country has met the compression formula threshold.
This comes as a sigh of relief to civil servants who had experienced salary delays earlier this year as the government cited that it was in a financial fix with nowhere to get funds.
"I know we had an issue with delayed salaries. It is the first time that we are having delayed salaries but it is also the first time that we are having such monumental debts. I want to assure the country that is managed," President Ruto said.
"All I assure the country is the commitment I made that we are not going to borrow money to spend on recurrent expenditure including salaries. That is the position of the government of Kenya."
