Kenyan civil servants are set to receive a salary increase from July this year after the Cabinet approved Ksh100 billion (about $1 billion) for the programme in the 2017/18 budget.
Chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday, the Cabinet also approved funds for the harmonisation of public sector salaries and allowances, pension, and house and hardship allowances.
The government will also recruit additional 10,000 police officers and 5,000 teachers.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), this year, recommended a pay increment for all public sector employees after carrying out a job evaluation exercise of about 40,000 jobs.
SRC also introduced a harmonisation criteria for salary grades for all government workers, grouping public sector jobs into 19 categories.
Under the proposed rating, the lowest paid worker in job grade B1 will earn a minimum of Ksh14,442 ($140) per month, while the highest paid employee in job grade E4 will take home a monthly salary of Ksh292,765 ($2,900).
In a statement on Thursday, State House spokesman Manoa Esipisu said the Cabinet noted that the 2017/18 budget increased by Ksh140 billion ($1.4 billion).
“The budget has increased from Ksh2.48 trillion ($24 billion) in 2016/17 to Ksh2.62 trillion ($26 billion),” the statement read.
According to the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, revenue collection is projected to grow to Ksh1.704 trillion ($17 billion) from Ksh1.5 trillion ($15 billion), while Ksh256 billion ($2.5 billion) is expected in donor funds.
The revised pay for civil servants comes as doctors and lecturers downed their tools protesting government’s commitment to honor collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) over salary increases.
The ongoing stalemate between the medics, dons and the government has paralysed medical and teaching services at all public hospitals and universities respectively.
Last October, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) agreed on CBA that bound the two parties from 2017 to 2021.
Under the agreement, which takes effect on July 1, teachers will receive a salary increment while P1 teachers, the lowest-paid rank, will be abolished with the upgrading of the tutors’ entry level.
Prior to this teachers had staged prolonged strike demanding for a 300 per cent pay rise.
