President William Ruto has rejected a proposed salary increment for himself and other senior government officials floated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in order to cushion them against the rising cost of living, Business Africa is reporting.
The President said he has directed the SRC to freeze the proposed salary review until the commission establishes whether it is in line with best practices on income inequalities. Speaking on Friday, June 30, 2023, Ruto proposed a 7-10 per cent salary increment for teachers, police officers, KDF officers and other civil servants in the lower cadre starting July 1, 2023.
“I know there is a proposal by SRC for the increase of salaries of different cadres of both civil servants and other public servants. Because of the economic times we live in, we have approved that salaries of other civil servants can be adjusted beginning tomorrow,” Ruto said. He said that the salaries for senior government officials will remain redundant until SRC achieved international standards in rationalising salaries for all civil servants.
“For the other people, the state officers, myself, my deputy, ministers, PSs and MPs, ours will wait. I have instructed the SRC to give us international best practices because we need to reduce the gap between all of us who work for the people of Kenya. We need to make sure that the gap between the person paid the least and the person paid the most is not too big. It is not right for the people at the top to earn more than 100 times than those at the bottom,” President Ruto said.
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