The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on October 27 commenced a nationwide inspection to audit public institutions’ wage bill. The exercise will last two weeks and end on December 13.
The visits which are usually meticulous and rigorous will be conducted across all the 47 counties to strengthen the management of the public wage bill to monitor and evaluate the implementation of remuneration and benefits.
Already several concurrent teams are spread across the country, spearheaded by commissioners of the SRC and several secretariat staff have started the visits.
The exercise will be used to analyse the wage bill data towards the identification of emerging wage bill trends in the government.
“SRC recognises that collaborating with stakeholders across the public service, therefore, enhances the achievement of its mandate on the management of the public wage bill,” the press statement read.
Further, the visits are aimed at engaging the leadership of County Governments, and monitoring adherence to the remuneration and benefits, as set, reviewed and advised by SRC.
County Governments are expected to provide key data through a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) digital system developed by SRC.
The M&E Initiative builds on the Third National Wage Bill Conference Resolutions on keeping the wage-bill-to-revenue ratio at not more than 35 per cent by 2028.
Further, the exercise is expected to provide interpretation and clarification on SRC circulars and agreements reached on corrective and remedial measures, where necessary, as guided by SRC.
SRC has been having bilateral talks with governors and the leadership in county governments on how best to bolster mutual collaboration in the management of the public wage bill to sustainable levels.
It comes as SRC on October 16 disclosed how the government has been struggling to reduce the ballooning public wage bill over the past six years.
The Commission announced it had advised on the Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA). To that end, SRC effectively abolished several allowances that were previously available for public service employees including Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) and Members of Parliament (MPs).
Similarly, other ministerial allowances for CSs and plenary sitting allowances for MPs, Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) as well as taxable car allowance for CSs, PSs, and judges were also slashed.
