President William Ruto, on Friday, June 30, halted plans by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to increase his salary and that of his Deputy Rigathi Gachagua.
Speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC), Ruto directed SRC to develop an internationally recognised 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."
"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.
Defending the move, Ruto announced that it will bring uniformity in the public service addressing cases where some civil servants earn ten times more than others.
Ruto expressed concerns over the current public service remuneration system indicating that some university vice-chancellors and parastatal managing directors were earning more than him.
The Head of State thus 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.
His deputy was expected to earn Ksh1,402,500 from his current Ksh1,367,438 monthly pay.
In the proposal, Chief Justice Martha Koome was expected to be among the top earners in the country with her salary hitting Ksh1,403,942 starting in 2024.
Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu's salary was set to hit Ksh1,304,185 per month minus allowances in 2024.
Ruto, however, 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.
