Police officers’ ‘slashed salaries’: What’s happening?

The police officers say they have been earning the “right” salaries until October, 2021. [File, Standard]

Several junior police officers have come out to accuse the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) of slashing their salaries without proper justification.

Most of those affected are constables, who recently earned promotion to the position of inspector of police after graduating with undergraduate degrees.

In their short-lived salaries under the inspector rank, the officers said they used to earn a monthly salary of Sh57,300, a house allowance of Sh24,950, a Sh4,000 commuter allowance and a risk allowance of Sh11,000.

The officers say they have been earning the salaries until October 2021, when their pay was reduced to amounts earned by police constables; a junior grade, just below the rank of inspector.

Police constables earn a monthly salary of Sh31,000, a house allowance of Sh14,300, a risk allowance of Sh9,000 and a commuter allowance of Sh4,000.

Officers, whose salaries have been affected, said they fail to understand why their remuneration has reduced, yet they have retained the inspector of police rank.

Some of the cops say loan facilities on their pay slips have seen them take home nothing in form of remuneration, wondering how they are supposed to survive the tough economic times.

On November 26, 2021, the Inspector-General of Police wrote a memo to the affected officers, asking them to submit their academic certificates for verification before the salaries are reinstated.

The affected officers, however, claim this is a delay ploy to shortchange them, and possibly a route for them to be victimised.

The Standard reached Joseph Onyango, the National Police Service Commission’s CEO, for comment, but he discontinued the call, and asked we send him a text, which we did.

As of the time of publishing this story, he hadn’t given us a response in regard to the officers’ “reduced” salaries complaints.

The Standard understands that police constables, who further their studies and graduate with degrees, are usually promoted to the rank of inspector of police, and their salaries are reviewed upwards.

This has been happening since 2016, when the new order was introduced.

So far, 1,209 police officers have benefited from the policy, with about 700 currently alleging salary reductions.