The newly sworn-in Cabinet Administrative Secretaries (CAS) will be smiling all the way to the bank after their monthly salary was raised to Ksh780,000.
This is after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) did a job evaluation and deemed it fit for the CASs to get a salary raise of Ksh14,812 placing them above Principal Secretaries (PS) in the pecking order and top six of Kenya’s highest-paid public service officials.
Also Read: 50 CAS Appointees Expected to Take Oath of Office
“SRC has determined the monetary worth of the job of CAS at grade F1 and would like to advise on the attendant remuneration and benefits structure,” SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said in a letter to his counterpart in the Public Service Commission.
The salary of a CAS is made up of Ksh459,113 basic pay, Ksh165,000 house allowance and Ksh155,887. The newly sworn-in CAS are also entitled to a car loan of up to Ksh8 million, Ksh20,000 monthly airtime and Ksh50,000 annual leave allowance same as that of principal secretaries.
Even as the CASs get a salary raise, controversy has rocked their swearing in which took place on the morning of Thursday, March 23 at State House Nairobi overseen by President William Ruto.
In a news piece published by the Daily Nation, President Ruto moved fast and appointed the 50 CAS in a fight against the same appointments that took place in court.
Eliud Karanja Matindi had filed a petition seeking to stop the appointments at the High Court’s Constitutional and Human Rights Division Court.
However, Justice Hedwig Ong’undi of the Constitutional and Human Rights Division in Milimani Nairobi said that the request by the petitioner for interim orders stopping the appointment and swearing-in was overtaken by events following the swearing-in of the CASs.
The petitioner protested the decision by the National Assembly to decline to vet the nominees their gazettement on Wednesday night and their subsequent swearing-in on Thursday morning.
“The President went on to appoint and swear the 50 CAs this morning. His actions were aimed at defeating the cause of justice in this matter,” Matindi told the court yesterday.
“The appointing authority put themselves above the constitution and went ahead to violate the constitution while aware of the active case in court. I was seeking orders to avoid violation of the constitution and misuse of money to give the court time to consider the substantive motion,” Matindi added.
