Economy

SRC seeks Sh250 million for Civil Service jobs review

serem pix

Salaries and Remuneration Commission chairperson Sarah Serem at a past function. Photo/File

Public servants will wait longer to know their new salaries after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission said it did not have Sh250 million for hiring a consultant.

The consultant was meant to evaluate jobs in the entire public sector and arrive at a pay structure for the police, teachers, civil servants, lecturers, doctors, nurses and employees of parastatals.

“We want to establish job values so that we pay all workers under each category a similar pay irrespective of whether in the police, teaching, medical professions or in parastatals,” Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) chairperson Sarah Serem told the Finance, Trade and Planning Committee of Parliament.

She said the commission had been allocated the money in the current financial year, but it was returned to the Treasury because the recruitment of the consultant was not complete.

She said the commission had now identified a consultant and was signing agreements in readiness for the evaluation of more than 600 job categories in the public service to start next month.

“We need this amount for the consultant to start work. This money was returned to Treasury because of the difficulty in getting a consultant to undertake the work,” Mrs Serem said.

The review was meant to rationalise public sector wages and reduce the payroll costs, which consumes up to 30 per cent of the budget or Sh450 billion in the current financial year.

Under the Constitution, the commission is mandated to set the salaries for all workers drawing money from the exchequer. It has already done so for about 3,500 State officers including the President, Deputy President, governors, Members of Parliament, cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries.

(Read: Governors gain as MPs and senators lose in pay review)

However, the State officers comprise only three per cent of the staff falling under the SRC leaving the terms of the rank and file under the Police Service Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Teacher Service Commission, other independent commissions and parastatals untouched.

While stating its case before the committee for allocation of another Sh386 million, Ms Serem and chief executive officer Grace Otieno was met with hostility after reducing MPs salaries from Sh851,000 per month to Sh532,500.

Kitutu Chache North MP Jimmy Angwenyi, a Parliamentary Service Commission member, questioned the job evaluation exercise conducted on MPs and other elected and appointed State officers.

“How fair was the so called job evaluation on MPs’ salary? How fair is it for MPs to earn Sh5,000 in sitting allowance yet you earn Sh40,000?” he posed.

Mrs Serem said the allowances paid to commissioners were determined by the Public Service Commission and the Treasury.

“We have not varied any allowances payable to us. It was set by the Public Service Commission and the Treasury,” said Serem.

Committee chairman Benjamin Lang’at questioned why SRC needed more money yet it had sub-contracted work equivalent to half of its spending to private companies and professionals.

Mr Lang’at also questioned what the wider job evaluation would achieve, saying SRC should not reduce or set salaries for teachers, police and corporation workers who have contracts with respective employers.

The budget presented by SRC shows that the remuneration for board members and staff would rise from Sh43 million to Sh168 million in the financial year starting July.
The committee also questioned the rise in the commission’s budget for advertisement, travel and hospitality.

Ms Otieno said SRC would increase its workforce from 48 to 74 after officers who were seconded from the Public Service Commission and the National Treasury were recalled.

“This amount has increased because we intend to hire our own staff after those seconded to us started pulling out,” she said.

Ms Otieno revealed that each of the 14 commissioners earns a sitting allowance of Sh40,000 with the meetings set at eight per month. This translates to Sh4.48 million per month or Sh53.76 million in a year.

MPs further questioned why the commission needed Sh60 million for allowances yet members work on a part time basis. Ms Otieno said Sh53 million is the annual compensation for the commissioners and the balance is used to reimburse travel costs and accommodation allowances for those who reside outside Nairobi.

“The commissioners have no offices in Nairobi. We reimburse them travel and any accommodation cost, over and above the Sh40,000 sitting allowances. No member of staff, including the CEO, draws any sitting allowance,” Ms Otieno said.

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