Salary review freeze for all State officers  By Stephen Oinga

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) acknowledges the national discourse on public expenditure, particularly concerning wages and salaries. This discussion aligns with SRC’s mandate to ensure the affordability and fiscal sustainability of the public wage bill.

In response to recent media stories from 2 July 2024 and 3 July 2024 regarding salary increases for Members of Parliament and other State officers, SRC clarified that salary increases for State officers had not been newly gazetted.

SRC had issued the Gazette Notice on 9 August 2023, and which detailed the Third Remuneration and Benefits Review Cycle for State and Other Public Officers, intended for implementation over the two-year period of 2023/2024 and 2024/2025.

This review followed a two-year freeze on pay structures during 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 due to the economic impact of Covid-19. The remaining two years were set to be implemented in two phases.

This review cycle, mandated by Section 11(e) of SRC Act, 2011, covers the entire public service, including State and other public officers, within the context of affordability and fiscal sustainability as stipulated by Article 230 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.

In light of emerging fiscal constraints, proposed budget cuts and consultations with stakeholders, including the National Treasury, SRC reviewed the pay settings and advice for the second phase of the 2024/2025 implementation, and as a result, froze the upward review of salaries for all State Officers.

Further, SRC assured its stakeholders and the public that it remained committed to ensuring the prudent fiscal management of the public wage bill and that it had consistently taken measures to operate within prescribed affordability limits, consequently reducing the wage bill from 54.77 per cent of revenue in 2020/2021 to 46.64 per cent in 2022/2023.

Additionally, SRC committed that it aimed to reduce the wage bill further to 35 per cent by 2028, and welcomed support from all quarters to achieve this goal of a 35 per cent wage-bill-to-revenue ratio.

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