Developing story: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi confirmed dead in chopper crash
SRC’s pay increase for public sector laudable
What you need to know:
- The average increases range between seven and 10 per cent with a three per cent annual adjustment.
- This increment is meant to harmonise salaries across the public service to ensure fairness in the national and county governments.
A public service pay increase during the current difficult economic times is a really good turn of events for the beneficiaries of the largely unexpected windfall. Teachers, civil servants and security agency personnel have been rewarded in a big salary review amid high cost of living and rising prices of basic commodities, including the staple maize flour.
It is also a vote of confidence in the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which has often come under pressure from, especially, lawmakers trying to fix their own pay and allowances.
The average increases range between seven and 10 per cent with a three per cent annual adjustment, backdated to July 1. The pay rationalisation makes sense as some officers in state corporations earn more than even the President and Cabinet secretaries.
This increment is meant to harmonise salaries across the public service to ensure fairness in the national and county governments. As for the ability to pay, both the SRC and the National Treasury have cited a rebound in the economy since last year with projections of a continuing trend. More savings should also be made from a review and scrapping of allowances that amount to double compensation.
It is, indeed, a time for celebration, especially by the police and other members of the disciplined forces and county government workers. Their take-home has been boosted following the recent huge taxes and doubling of the Value Added Tax to 16 per cent and the 1.5 per cent housing levy deductions. But it is commendable that increments for the highest earners, including staff of state corporations and secretariats in commissions and independent agencies, have been partially frozen.
The SRC has resisted attempts at being bulldozed into rewarding certain cadres and insisted on catering for the highly disadvantaged. It has in the past stood its ground, refusing to be bullied by MPs. It is the mandate of this constitutional commission to fix public sector salaries and allowances.
These increments were arrived at after it commissioned labour market surveys, making the staff pay comparable to their private sector counterparts. The commission is on the right track.
