The EACC’s head office in Nairobi. Out of 2,246 approved staff limit, it only has 385 workers. PHOTO | FILE
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In the past year alone, EACC has lost 20 employees seeking greener pastures, bringing the total of staff who have quit since its inception in 1997 to 200.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) continues to register mass exodus of employees amid a raging feud with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) over compensation terms.
In the past year alone, the anti-graft agency has lost 20 employees seeking greener pastures, bringing the total of staff who have quit since its inception in 1997 to 200.
“Since inception over 200 members of staff have left the commission citing lack of career progression and static remuneration among other reasons,” EACC said in a status report to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
To address the situation, the agency recently undertook a job evaluation through the Devolution and Planning ministry and the directorate of Public Service Management.
The report that was later adopted by the Commission proposed a new salary structure which was forwarded to SRC for approval.
“The proposed salary scale allowed for broader bands for growth within the scale. However, SRC declined to approve the proposed structure and asked the Commission to stick to the prevailing salary structure,” EACC said.
The anti-graft agency’s present remuneration package was issued in 2005 and provides for only three points of growth within the job grades.
“This has led to staff stagnating in the same pay point for 10 years and has contributed to a great extent the high staff turnover,” the agency said. As at February 27, EACC had 385 staff against an approved level of 2,246 employees, the anti-graft agency said.
“It is our considered view that if the proposed salary structure is adopted as envisaged under the job evaluation exercise, salary stagnation and high staff turnover will be addressed to a great degree and staff will be motivated to deliver to the Commission’s mandate,” it further said.
The concerns by EACC came in the wake of ongoing investigations on high profile public officials.
The commission said it was targeting to trace and recover corruptly acquired assets valued at over Sh50 billion and keep track of the expanded national budget at about Sh1.7 trillion, both at the county and national level.
The government is currently grappling with huge expenditure requirements with both the Treasury and the SRC remaining adamantly against the upward review of salaries and allowances of civil servants and public officers.
The SRC is reviewing perks in the public sector to ensure that people handling the same jobs get equal allowance across the board in an attempt to trim the swelling wage bill.
Currently, the wage bill stands at Sh568 billion ($6.24 billion), consuming over 52 per cent of the country’s domestic revenue, which is already too high for a low middle-income economy, analysts said.
Unlike Kenya, in some developed and emerging economies, the public wage bill consumes only five per cent of total revenues.
It is projected that the compensation for public servants will jump by an extra Sh19.7 billion in the next financial year before taking into account the demands for higher pay by teachers and other civil servants.
State think-tank Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) says allowances have made the government the preferred employer and called for a radical review.
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