Economy

Counties in court to overturn SRC pay cut

nyeri

NYERI County assembly in session. file PHOTO | NMG

Counties have gone to court to overturn a Kenya Gazette notice that cut the pay and perks of speakers, MCAs and ministers, opening another war front against the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

County officials reckon the lower pay has affected the functioning of devolution and accuse the SRC of failing to consult over the July salary cuts of top officials, including the president and MPs, which aimed to save Sh8.5 billion a year.

The move includes the removal of some allowances, salary cuts and reduced sitting perks which the County Assemblies Forum (CAF) is seeking to overturn in court.

Through lawyer James Mbugua, CAF terms the lower pay unreasonable, discriminatory, arbitrary and against their legitimate expectation.

CAF says it has made futile attempts to engage SRC to reverse the decision before opting to go to court. The lobby says the new pay structure denies the officials the right to having annual salary increments, mortgage, transport and other benefits accorded to State staff.

“The implementation of the impugned decision will unduly undermine the due and efficient operation of the 47 county assemblies as well as governments,” said Mr Mbugua.

SRC reduced governors’ monthly pay by Sh132,000 to Sh924,000, deputy governors’ earnings from Sh701,441 to Sh621,250 while that of speakers and county executives or ministers was reduced by Sh91,000 to Sh259,563.

MCAs’ pay was cut to Sh144,375 from Sh165,000, while allowances for assembly sittings were scrapped and committee perks lowered by Sh900 to Sh3,000 per sitting.

The county executives have accused SRC of failure to conduct a study on the labour market and the prevailing economic situation as well as developing a comprehensive job evaluation scheme.

READ: Budget unit names MCAs with highest sitting perks

SRC has also been accused of failure to consult stakeholders before making the decision which affects State officials working in both levels of government.

CAF claims that it complied with the disputed gazette notice even though it’s dissatisfied with the lower, unfair and patently erroneous ranking accorded to State officials serving in counties.

MPs in December sued the SRC over the pay cuts that included the scrapping of a Sh5 million car grant given to every legislator, removal of some allowances and a Sh90,000 reduction in basic monthly pay.

High Court judge George Odunga temporarily suspended the implementation of the disputed gazette notice on December 14, 2017.

The MPs’ case is set to come up for hearing on January 29. The annual wage bill for 700,000 public employees stands at Sh627 billion, half of the government’s revenue.