New salary reviews for civil servants in Kenya?

21 June 2022 - The SRC (Salaries and Remuneration Commission) of Kenya has proposed a policy in the Parliament that would allow for a review of the salaries and allowances of civil servants every four years. This review would allow for their remuneration to match the increases in the cost of living. 

The cost of living in Kenya has been rising sharply over the past few years, leaving citizens struggling to afford basic commodities whose prices have hit record highs. The changing economic times have not been reflected in civil servants’ salaries, weakening their purchasing power. The private sector in Kenya has no specific regulations for salary increments either, as policies are developed by individual human resource departments. 

This new policy will include public officers such as teachers, lecturers, doctors, and nurses join the ranks of State officers to receive a pay review every four years. 

Currently, only State officers such as the President and Members of Parliament enjoy a salary increment every four years. Civil servants have few avenues to push for an increase in pay, except through Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA), which are sometimes not followed, or strikes. 

The proposed regulations will take into account relevant national budgeting and planning cycles. The salary reviews would also be pegged to the budgetary allocations and performance targets at the different public offices. The measure of cost of living shall be determined by the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI), as determined by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The CPI in 2021 was 6.1 percent. 

At the present, the Kenyan government spends slightly over half of its revenue in 2021, equivalent to Ksh 830 billion, on the public sector wage bill. Share and compare salary information on Mywage