Teachers and other civil servants will now get a 7-10 per cent salary raise and backdated to July 1 after a freeze placed in 2021.

SRC revealed at a breakfast meeting in Nairobi that the salary review is based on growth momentum that picked up immediately after Covid-19.

Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) says the National Treasury has allocated Sh27.1 billion for 2023/24 to undertake the exercise.

“The average increase of 7-10 per cent will be undertaken over a two-year period and is inclusive of a notch increase, averaging three per cent annually,” SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said.

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She added that the third remuneration and benefits review will see progressive harmonisation and adjustment of remuneration structures that are below the 50 percentile market positioning while freezing salary structures above the 50 percentile.

Furthermore, where the salary structures are frozen, the notch increase will continue as budgeted up to the maximum salary point.

Teachers will get the lion’s share of the pay rise, with the Teachers Service Commission allocated 44.2 per cent of the total amount, followed by armed forces at 20.9 per cent while counties will get 18.8 per cent.

Civil servants and state officers will get 8.5 and 4.3 per cent respectively.

This is expected to pile more pressure on the wage bill that has since crossed the Sh1 trillion mark, with SRC forecasting it to hit Sh1.17 trillion up from Sh1.10 trillion.

The government has 968,425 employees this year from 953,041 last year, with an average monthly salary of Sh73,540.

The teachers’ service commission will from July 2023 review the basic salaries of teachers as per the presidential declaration of 7-10% increment.

Sources from TSC have hinted at a possibility of awarding Teachers in lower job groups a higher percentage increment, with the lowest earning teacher in job group B5 getting a 10% increment and the highest earning teacher in job group D4 getting a 7% increment.

Below are new basic salaries for teachers in all job groups

New Teachers’ Basic salaries per job group w.e.f 1^st July 2023

Current Basic Salaries For Teachers

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The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has defended the proposal to increase salaries for top government officials.

This was after a proposal was turned down by President William Ruto, especially for elected leaders.

Speaking on Saturday, SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said Covid-19 had affected the salaries review but now things are back to normal.

She said the review was part of an earlier cycle that had been stopped due to Covid-19.

“SRC set a four-year review cycle and we are now in the third review cycle. There was a salary structure freeze due to Covid-19. The commission has now reviewed the Salaries as required,” she said.

On Friday, President William Ruto put on hold the proposed salary review for senior state officials.

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Ruto however said that can wait but salaries of teachers, police officers, KDF officers and other civil servants will be adjusted upwards by 7-10 per cent effective July 1.

“I know there is a proposal by SRC for the increase of salaries of different cadres of both civil servants and other public servants. Because of the economic times we live in, we have approved that salaries of other civil servants can be adjusted beginning tomorrow,” he said.

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s salary was to increase from the current Sh1,227,188 to Sh1,367,438.

Other State Officers such as the Attorney General, the head of the Public Service, Cabinet Secretaries and the Secretary to the Cabinet were to receive a 7 per cent salary increment.

They were to earn Sh990,000 up from the current Sh924,000.

Principal Secretaries, the Inspector-General and the Director General of the National Intelligence Service were to get an increment of Sh54,656 on top of their current Sh765,188.

Other top officials in the Police Service who were set to benefit are the Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service, and The Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations who were to receive a Sh62,983 pay rise.

The state officers were to get a cumulative salary increment of 14% over a 2-year period.

A row has erupted between the Public Service Commission (PSC) and Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) over a proposal to scrap non-practice allowances in public service. PSC has since accused SRC of trying to usurp its mandates and roles and those of County Service Boards (CPSBs), County Assembly Service Boards (CASBs) and other commissions in the management and operations of aactivities in the public sector.

Non-practice allowance was intended to facilitate attraction and retention of key professionals in public service such as doctors and judges. While the government was worried at the time of introducing the perks that trained professional would go into private practice, making it hard for the low-paying public sector to attract top talent, SRC, in proposals published late last year, argues that the situation has since changed and there is, therefore, no need to continue paying the allowances.

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SRC has been working hard to reduce excess allowances that comprise about 10 per cent of the government’s wage bill. In its argument, the commission claims it is no longer difficult to attract and retain critical professionals in the public service compared to the previous years and as such, the non-practice perks should be scrapped to get rid of unnecessary spending by the government. Commission’s proposal, which is in line with Article 230(4)(b) and (5) of the Constitution and Sections 11 and 12 of SRC Act, hopes to streamline its management and administration to improve transparency, accountability, equity and fairness.

But in a memorandum, Public Service Commission chief executive Simon Rotich claims SRC has zero mandate to dictate contractual terms between them and their employees. The memorandum dated March 3, addressed to SRC’s chief executive Anne Gitau, Rotich upholds that it is PSC’s mandate to review and make recommendations to the National government in respect of conditions of service, code of conduct and qualifications of officers in the public service.

“In the instant case and in respect of public officers, PSC, other commissions, CPSBs and CASBs have not proposed to review the allowances payable to the public officers and neither has there been a consensus that the same should be reviewed or abandoned. It is only at the point of a decision having been reached that advice may then be sought from SRC,” Rotich says.

Rotich, in the memorandum, insists that SRC’s constitutional mandates are to set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of State officers and advise the national and county governments on remuneration and benefits of all public officers.

“Article 230 (4) of the Constitution makes a distinction between the constitutional mandate of SRC with respect to state officers and with respect to public officers. Therefore, it is PSC’s considered position that the exercise of SRC’s mandates must be read together with PSC’s mandates,” the memorandum. Rotich argues that SRC cannot take up the role of advising the National government on remuneration and benefits of public officers before engaging PSC and before the commission reviews conditions of service, code of conduct and qualifications of officers in the public service for purposes of making recommendations to the national government.

He cites that PSC, being the employer of public officers, has the responsibility of setting the remuneration of their employees, a contract that SRC cannot interfere with as its only mandate is advisory. “SRC cannot be a third party to an employment contract and seek to review remuneration of public officers, that has been set and agreed upon by an employer and an employee in the public service, without the concurrence of the initial approval of PSC,”

Rotich added in the letter. PSC further argues that SRC cannot abolish an allowance that it has been paying to public officers which forms part of the terms of employment. “The allowance cannot be withdrawn at will without consulting the employee who must consent before a variation of the said terms of engagement,” the memorandum further reads.

Rotich told the SRC boss that at the time, PSC, CPSBs and CASBs have not proposed to review allowances payable to public officers and neither has there been a consensus that the same should be reviewed and or abolished.

SRC’s proposal has also been rejected by other professional bodies such as Kenya Medical Association (KAM) which describes the abolition of the perks as a direct insult to critical professions. KMA says the commission should keep off giving guidance to PSC as it could infringe negotiations for a fair wage among public officers. Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union has described the move as unethical and colonial in nature. KMPDU insists that SRC cannot review salaries of critical professionals in the public service backwards.

All Teachers and other public servants will have their salaries and allowances reviewed after every four years under new regulations targeting to match increases in the cost of living.

In the latest regulations submitted to the parliament, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which has been so insensitive with matters salary increment (especially if teachers are involved), has proposed an automatic salary review after every four years.

These new regulations sharply contrast the current situation, which has no timelines for reviewing pay for officers; teachers, lecturers, doctors and nurses included.

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Over the years, the cost of living has risen sharply, with the climax being this year, weakening the purchasing power of public servants, whose monthly pay has stagnated, thus unable to match the changing economic times.

Should parliament approve the changes (of course they will), the teachers and other public servants will join State officers like the President and MPs, whose pay is reviewed every four years.

“The commission shall review and advise on remuneration and benefits for other public officers every four years,” says SRC in the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (Remuneration and Benefits of State and other Public Officers) Regulations, 2022.

“The commission shall undertake the review taking into account the applicable national budgeting and planning cycles,” read the proposed regulations.

The cost-of-living measure will be based on the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) that is given by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). CPI for last year was 6.1 percent.

The lack of timelines anchored in law for automatic review of salaries and allowances of public servants has left strikes and Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) as the only avenues available to workers to push for pay increments.

SRC says that the pay reviews shall, however, be pegged on the budgetary allocations and performance targets at the various public offices.

The public sector wage bill that includes elected leaders is estimated at Sh830 billion per year, which is slightly more than half the government’s revenue for the year ended June 2021.

Tax collections by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for the period to June last year stood at Sh1.669 trillion, and the target for the year ending this month is Sh1.8 trillion.

SRC has once again promised to address the stagnation of teachers at job group L (C3). In this case, SRC has been hit by the plight of several teachers, who have served in job group L (C3), for close to 20 years. The report claims that in the category that has stagnated, diploma holders are the most affected lot. SRC is so much concerned with the over 20,000 diploma holders, who have served in job group C3 for so many years, and it feels they may retire in the same job group.

While negotiating the 2017-2021 CBA, diploma teachers were notably left out and this is what SRC wants reviewed in the new CBA 2021-2025. On the issue of teachers stagnating at Job group C 3 with no hopes of moving to job group C4, KUPPET had petitioned TSC, and the matter cannot be solved easily since this is a CBA that was signed by KUPPET itself.

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In her own wisdom, SRC feels that unfair salary differences inspire low morale and reduced productivity, causing desire for salary increase and unnecessary labour unrests.

“Disparities in pay for workers with similar qualifications, skills, and in comparable occupations, contradict the principles of equal pay for work of equal value,” states the guidelines.

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It is therefore evident SRC wants the 2021-2025 collective bargaining agreement to solve the issue of job group stagnation once and for all. If implemented, moving from job group C3 to C4 won’t be as difficult as it currently is, and most teachers won’t stagnate at the bar of job group C3 all their years in service as it has been the norm. Diploma teachers will not be left out but will be the biggest beneficiaries of 2021-2025 CBA, as proposed by SRC. The salary disparity between degree holders and diploma holders also won’t be as huge as it is currently because in its guideline, TSC has pledged to bridge the salary gaps between teachers in similar or different T- scales.

The government of Kenya is currently in a dichotomy between implementing the teachers’ July 2021 salary increment as per the CBA 2021-2024, and holding a BBI referendum.

According to the sources closer to government,  increasing salaries for teachers and other public officers will put the government on her knees, owing to the fact that the government already has greater yokes on her neck, like the increasing debt burden and a sky rocketed economy.

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Reliable sources have also revealed that there will be massive job cuts from the year 2021, since it is only through job cuts that the international monetary fund, IMF, will award Kenya a new loan.

With plans to hold a BBI referendum in the year 2021, the government is under deep pressure. Among the voters, teachers fall among the majority vote swing groups, which need to be appeased by the government to avoid disappointments in the referendum campaigns.

In his tenure as the president of the republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta has strategically increased teachers salaries towards voting seasons. This was witnessed in the year 2017, when the popular 2017-2020 collective bargaining agreement between teachers and TSC was signed. Being that referendum also involves voting and teachers’ numbers have even increased, the president thinks of ensuring a new CBA is signed. However, with proximity to the debt ceiling and the rising cost of living, the president is torn between driving the referendum agenda and increasing teachers’ salaries.

SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich has confirmed that the salary review process for the 2021-2024 CBA cycle should end by Tuesday 22^nd December 2020.

“TSC and civil servants salary review will take place at the same time in June 2021 when the Job evaluation exercise will be over. The salary reviews were launched in September and is ongoing. Kenyans have up to 22^nd December 2020 to give their views,” said Mengich.

In their memorandum on remuneration guidelines for public servants, SRC has confirmed that remuneration and benefits for civil servants are due in June 2021.

This review will coincide with the teachers’ CBA and employment contracts renewal with TSC, who have already presented a counter proposal offer to the SRC for approval. next