President Ruto rejects a pay rise

By Peter Ochieng

President Ruto rejects salary rise President William Ruto says he is not interested in a salary rise, at this point in time.

In it’s review, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) had proposed a 14% increase of salaries of state officers, including the President, his deputy, Cabinet Secretaries and MPs.

The proposal targeted to increase the salaries over the next two years, starting next month.

Curiosly, salaries of public servants such as doctors, teachers and police officers will remain unchanged under the same period.

However, president Ruto seemingly brought to a halt, the SRC’s plans on Friday.

Speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), in Nairobi, Ruto ordered SRC to develop an internationally recognized system to reduce the gap among 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,” said the president.

He added, “Let it remain the way it is until SRC gives us international best practices because we need to reduce the gap.”

The president said that as things currently stand, some University Chancellor's and heads of government parastatals were earning more than him, wondering the criteria used to arrive at their hefty remuneration.

If SRC’s proposal had sailed through, president Ruto’s monthly gross remuneration package would have risen to Sh1,546,875 from Sh1,443,750 currently, before a further 6.7 percent jump to Sh1,650,000 from July 2024.

His deputy, Rigathi Gachagua’s monthly compensation would have risen to Sh1,367,438 from Sh1,227,188 at present, before hitting Sh1,402,500, from July, 2024.

Members of Parliament, Senators, Governors and Members of the County Assembly would also have enjoyed a ‘decent’ pay rise.

The president’s move is likely to attract a backlash from MPs, Senators and MCA’s, who on most occasions unite when pushing for salary increment.