President William Ruto has rejected plans by the Salary Remunerations Commission (SRC) to increase his salary and that of his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
While speaking on Friday, June 30, at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC), the president directed SRC to develop an internationally recognized system to reduce the gap between civil servants’ salaries.
“I have told SRC that there is an internationally accepted formula called compression formula. Until they come back to me and say they have met that formula, our salary increment will wait.” He said.
“But for the other people, the state officers, myself, my deputy, ministers, PSs, MPs and others. That salary would remain the way it is. Let it remain the way it is until SRC gives us international best practices because we need to reduce the gap,” Ruto ordered.
While defending his decision, President William Ruto announced that the move will bring uniformity in the public service.
He added that it will address cases where some civil servants earn ten times more than others.
The President further expressed concerns over the current salaries system, adding that some university vice-chancellors and parastatal managing directors were earning more than him.
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He further directed SRC to explain in a detailed report what qualifies them for such high pay.
SRC had proposed increasing Ruto’s salary by Ksh206,260 for the financial year 2024/25. In the proposal, Ruto was poised to earn Ksh1,650,000, up from the current Ksh1,443,750.
In addition, the deputy president was expected to earn Ksh1,402,500 from his current Ksh1,367,438 monthly pay.
The proposal by the SRC stipulated that Chief Justice Martha Koome was to have her salary hitting Ksh1,403,942 starting 2024.
Whereas, the Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu’s salary was to hike to Ksh1,304,185 per month minus allowances.
However, President Ruto defended salary increments for other civil servants, arguing that it will cushion them from economic downtime.
“Salaries of other civil servants can be adjusted beginning tomorrow (Saturday July 1). So our teachers, military officers and people working in government services, we have agreed that your salaries will be adjusted between 7 and 10 per cent from tomorrow,” the Head of State announced.
