Revealed! “Allowances Are Double The Salaries.” Civil Servants To Face Pay Cuts

By Jane Okoth

She is the chairperson of the salaries and remuneration commission but a sworn enemy to MPs and public servants for her firm stand in reviewing of their salaries.

Her efforts to have their salaries reduced in order to cushion the wage bill have been unsuccessful but she is still not giving up.

However, an article in the Daily Nation reports that she has issued a new warning to civil servants about their allowances.

The chairperson warned that the allowances are likely to be cut when a new pay policy comes into force next year.

According to the paper, The Salaries and Remuneration Commission chief Sarah Serem said that “In some instances, allowances are double the salaries of public servants, which cannot be sustained.”

Much of the earnings of public officers, including MPs, is disguised as allowances while the actual pay is kept low.

Mrs Serem’s commission wants to regulate the salaries and allowances of the 655,300 public officers.

“I still have some doubts on whether the so called policy will ever be implemented, “says Solomon, an Operations Manager at a Local National bank in the CBD.

“This Serem led commission is all talk and no actions. What happened when they promised to review the MPs salaries some back and still failed to do so?” he asks.

“We want to see them acting otherwise they will make us think they also being compromised,” he concludes.

“I don’t understand why an allowance can become more than a salary and this is only applicable in Kenya,” says Eve Mwanga, Customer Service Assistant at an Investment Company.

“There is a great need for harmonization of all salaries and allowances in the public sector because the revelations are really disturbing,” she opines.

“This is a good move if it is going to be implemented. Civil servant officers earn ridiculous amounts of money and huge cash handouts the wrong way,” says Roy Oyugi, a Programs Coordinator at a leading N.G.O.

“No wonder many of them have become suddenly rich and wealthy yet their pay slips seem to reflect the exact opposite” he adds.

He concludes that “In my view, this is a dishonest way to confuse and convince the wananchi yet they earn huge sums of money hurting the economy.”

“It is very clear that she cannot review the salaries of all the big fishes in the government with parliament ever threatening to disband the commission over the matter,” said a public servant who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Yes our allowances are huge and if the salaries and allowances review have to be implemented, they should start from the top of the pay structure.

Also In my opinion she seems to be fighting a losing battle,” he concludes.

Public servants’ allowances are more than their actual salaries, so what is your take on the matter?

Dont Miss any Job Or Article Subscribe to Career Point Kenya by Email FOR FREE CLICK HERE