Some state employees enjoying higher hardship allowances for working in areas listed as hardship areas may see a dip in their pay should their workstations be declassified.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria on Wednesday told the Senate that his Ministry is reviewing a list of areas classified as hardship with the aim of dropping others.
Without naming specific areas, the CS explained that the Ministry was informed by the development experienced in some of the listed areas.
The first review will be made public in January 2024.
"In order to ensure all public servants work in a conducive environment and maximise their productivity, my ministry is in the process of developing a policy that will clearly define the criteria for classifying the hardship areas in our country," he stated.
"My commitment as I spelled out to the Honourable Senators when I appeared before them this morning on the floor of the Senate is that in the next three months, we will have a cabinet memo that will address the disparity across the country. Some parts of the country that were earlier classified as hardships areas have since developed while others need to be gazetted."
While appearing before the house, he further explained that some areas that do not feature on the list will be gazette.
Some of the sectors that may be affected by the degazettement include Education (deployment of teachers) and security (deployment of police officers) among others.
According to TSC, gazetted hardship areas include Garissa Isiolo, Kwale, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir and West Pokot counties.
Others are Baringo North, Tiaty East, Tiaty West, and Marigat sub-counties in Baringo, Suba and Mbita sub-counties in Homa Bay, Mashuuru, Loitoktok, and Kajiado West sub-counties in Kajiado and Magarini and Ganze sub-counties in Kilifi.
Mumoni, Mutito North, and Tseikuru Sub-Counties in Kitui and Narok South and Narok North sub-counties in Narok are also categorised as hardship areas.
Teachers posted to hardship areas pocket between Ksh6,600 and Ksh38,100 in hardship allowance depending on the job description. At the beginning of 2023, the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) lamented that officers earned significantly less than their teaching counterparts.
