Public Service Cabinet Secretary (CS) Geoffrey Ruku has announced that thousands of civil servants will receive salary increases from August 1, 2026.
Speaking in Londiani, Kericho County, on Wednesday, Ruku said the salary review directed by President William Ruto will benefit civil servants across the country after the government pushed back the implementation of the latest public sector pay review by one month.
He said the adjustment, which had earlier been expected to take effect from July 1, will now take effect at the beginning of August and will cover both basic salaries and key allowances paid to government employees.
“The government has assured you that by the end of this month of July, there will be a salary increase. Gross pay will be increased, housing allowance will be increased, and commuter allowance will also be increased so that all civil servants in the Republic of Kenya can continue benefiting from higher salaries and increased allowances,” Ruku said.
The latest announcement changes the timeline Ruku gave during the Public Service Week celebrations at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) on June 23, when he said the revised salaries would take effect in July.
Although the implementation date has been pushed back, the government maintains that the salary review remains on course.
Ruku said the review is part of the Fourth Remuneration and Benefits Review Cycle (2025–2029), which the government announced in January and backdated to July 2025.
“As we know, the pay increase was announced in January and was backdated to July 2025,” he added.
The salary increase for civil servants is expected to benefit employees across the public service, including workers in ministries, state departments, state corporations, county governments and teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
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At the same time, Ruku directed all ministries, departments, agencies and state corporations to migrate their payrolls to the Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS).
“We have issued a circular that all ministries, departments and county governments must be onboarded on the HRIS, and we have given them a period of one month to do so. If they fail to do that within the period, the salaries will not be remitted,” Ruku said.
He said the move is intended to ensure only genuine public servants benefit from the salary review while helping eliminate ghost workers from the government payroll.
The government says the new platform will allow real-time monitoring of payroll activities across national and county governments and help detect unauthorized changes.
“We are monitoring all the activities in the system in real time. Any single manipulation can be seen from our side,” Ruku said.
Also Read: Ruku Exposes Loopholes Used by Officers to Defraud the Govt in KSh 6B Payroll Heist
The directive comes days after the government disclosed widespread payroll irregularities, including cases of ghost workers, duplicate salary payments and other anomalies uncovered during a payroll review.
According to Ruku, migrating all government institutions to a single payroll platform will strengthen accountability, improve verification of employee records and seal loopholes that have allowed fraudulent salary payments.
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PHOTO | William Ruto | X
