Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Performance and Delivery Management, Moses Kuria, has called for the immediate halt of the implementation of a new salary structure for public servants.
In a letter addressed to the Chairperson of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Mrs. Lyn Mengich, Kuria outlined the government’s stance amidst an ongoing financial crisis.
In the letter dated July 3, 2024, Kuria references the Kenya Gazette Notice No. 177 from August 9, 2023, which outlined the remuneration and benefits of state officers. Acknowledging the SRC’s constitutional mandate to review these salaries, Kuria stressed the unsustainable nature of the current wage bill.
“It is not sustainable to have 900,000 public servants from both levels of Government consume KES 1.1 trillion annually,” he wrote, highlighting that this figure represents 47 percent of national revenues.
The context for this decision includes resolutions from the Third National Wage Bill Conference held in April 2024. The conference aimed to reduce the wage bill to 35 percent of revenue, as stipulated in the Public Finance Management Act 2012.
Kuria emphasized that the wage bill, currently consuming nearly half of the national revenues, is a significant burden, especially in light of recent austerity measures announced by President William Ruto following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024.
“This is more of a moral and ethical issue than an economic issue,” he asserted, pointing to the imbalance where 900,000 public servants’ salaries overshadow the needs of the remaining 54 million Kenyans.
The Cabinet Secretary’s call to degazette the new salary structure is framed as a necessary step to align public expenditure with fiscal prudence. “Reducing the public wage bill requires a multifaceted approach, one that balances fiscal prudence with a commitment to fair compensation for our public servants,” Kuria noted. He urged the SRC and other public sector institutions to “make sacrifices that we expect other Kenyans to make.”
The letter was also copied to Mr. Felix K. Koskei, Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service in the Executive Office of the President.
