Boom for civil servants as states announces new salaries

L-R:Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi with Kenya Civil Servants Secretary-General Tom Mboya Odenge, the CS says government committed to undertake win-win dialogue with Union of Kenya Civil Servants to avert a looming strike. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard] The government has splashed a Sh1.5 billion salary increment for civil servants, ending a looming strike that would have paralysed service delivery. Calming the strike threat, the government offered a salary raise of a minimum of Sh1,300 for lower job groups to about Sh5,000 for higher job groups and also rolled out improved house allowances of a maximum of up to Sh80,000. Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Justin Muturi on Tuesday said the National Treasury allocated funds to finance the implementation of the second phase of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). These are the details of the phase II remuneration benefits for the civil servants in the national government for the third remuneration review cycle 2021/2022-2024/2025. Speaking in a joint press conference, Muturi and the Union's Secretary General Tom Odenge announced on Tuesday that the government allocated funds to effect the second phase of their negotiated pay rise by the end of September 2024. "I want to appeal to all civil servants to consider the CBA fully implemented. I want to reassure them to be confident enough because whatever we agreed with the government has been given to us," said the Union's Secretary General Tom Odenge. "The threat to go on strike is fully discarded because our interest has been fully fulfilled," he added. Odenge announced that the salary increase as agreed between the union and the government will be back-dated to July 1, 2024. "Initially, we were not very happy because we thought it was in bad taste for the government to discriminate against us by availing money to teachers and leaving the civil servants who also signed a union CBA," said Odenge. In the new salary scales, civil services in the lowest job group (CSG 17) will now earn between Sh16, 920 and Sh 18, 760. However, the highest basic salary under the cluster is Sh 19, 920. Those who fall under Grade 16 will now earn between Sh18, 250 and Sh21, 940 per month while those in Grade 15 will be earning between Sh19, 340 and Sh21, 240. Under the deal, the highest-paid civil servants under Grade 4 will earn between Sh182, 890 and Sh339,780. The highest possible salary in the same cluster is Sh365,880. The ministry announced that the salaries will be backdated to July 1, 2024 meaning government employees will receive increased pay for July, August and September. Also under the deal, house allowances that were previously bundled in four clusters have been collapsed into three. All the workers who got house allowances from Cluster Four will now be put on Cluster Three. The biggest earners, however, of these allowances, will be workers in Nairobi who will bet between Sh3, 750 (for CSG17) to Sh80,000 (for CSG4). Workers in the other cities of Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru will get between Sh3, 125 and Sh80,000. Those stationed in Nyeri, Kisii, Malindi and Kitale municipalities will also fall under second cluster. And for the third cluster, which includes workers in the other former municipalities and all other areas previously under cluster four, will earn between Sh2,500 and Sh80,000. The first phase of the CBA was implemented between July 1, 2023 -June 30, 2024, and the second phase which was breached covers the financial year July 11, 2024-June 30, 2025. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission had declined to any salary increments owing to the increasing wage bill. However, Muturi said there have been engagements with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, the Public Service Commission, and the National Treasury on the implementation of the CBA between the government and civil servants. "Our engagement with the National Treasury has been to impress upon them that with the CBA having been signed by the parties, it is not open for any of the parties to renege on its contents, and therefore it is up for full implementation," said Muturi. As the CBA comes to an end by the end of June next year, Muturi said they are open to negotiating a fresh CBA with the civil servants' union. "Unions are provided for not just in the legislation but in the constitution. It's the right of every worker. So I will remain open and available to leadership to begin the negotiations," said the CS. The salary increments come even as the government implements budget cuts across what it termed as non-essential spending. It had also frozen salary increments for all government employees including CSs and MPs. The Kenya Kwanza regime was forced to trim spending after the Gen Z protests in opposing higher taxes forced it to withdraw the Finance Bill 2024. Treasury prepared the first Supplementary Budget for the 2024/25 financial year, with a reduced overall budget to cater for expected revenue shortfalls following the withdrawal of the Bill. The measures in the bill, which Kenyans rioted over describing them as punitive and insensitive to their plight, were expected to help government net in Sh344 billion in new revenues. In its absence, the government has had to reduce spending but this has not been adequate as it will also resort to borrowing more than it had earlier planned. In the Supplementary Budget, the Treasury reduced the overall budget to Sh3.87 trillion from Sh3.99 trillion, a 3.1 percent reduction. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission in July also did away with recommendations to increase salaries of state officers, which include Cabinet Secretaries, MPs, governors, MCAs and other holders of offices listed under Article 260 of the Constitution. It also froze the review of salaries for all other cadres of government employees on account of a stretched budget for the 2024/25 financial year. SRC at the time noted that as a consequence of the emerging fiscal constraints and budget cuts emanating from the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024, it had deferred the implementation of the salary review for all other public officers in the financial year 2024/2025 until further notice. "This decision is informed by there being no allocated budget for the implementation of the advised remuneration and benefits for all other public officers for the financial year 2024/2025, and which was to take effect in July 2024," said SRC. Freezing of salary increments was expected to contain a rise in the public wage bill that currently stands at Sh1.2 trillion. The union leaders had on Monday threatened to go on strike if the government failed to settle the CBA by the end of September creating tension over possible paralysis in the delivery of government services.

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