Revealed: Sh200,000 PSs’ secret pay raise

By David Ohito and Samuel Otieno

There was outrage at the disclosure that Permanent Secretaries quietly got a Sh200,000 pay increase, joining the ranks of public officers with super-high salaries. The raise catapulted the combined package for a senior PS to about Sh700,000 a month, making them some of the best-paid public officers alongside MPs and constitutional office holders.

Union leaders reacted with indignation after it was revealed in Parliament that the PSs were loaded with pay increments ranging between 30 and 47 per cent and moved from the hitherto high Job Group P to the super scale categories of S, T, U and V.

Also benefiting from the package were 63 authorised officers who include ministries’ secretaries.

The revelation — made for the first time in Parliament on Wednesday— triggered a barrage of outrage from union leaders who have been pushing the Government for better packages for their members.

The revelation came alongside a push by a group of MPs who want Parliament to increase their mileage allowances, citing rising inflation and the escalating cost of petrol.

Details of the lucrative perks for PSs came up in Parliament through a question by nominated MP Mohammed Affey.

Affey (ODM-Kenya) tabled the confidential document signed by Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura, authorising the hike.

Affey wanted to know from Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula why salaries of ambassadors and high commissioners were not increased after the Government richly awarded PSs.

Wetangula said his ministry declined to adjust salaries and allowances of diplomats because the pay raise proposals were skewed.

Documents Affey tabled before Parliament exposed how the PSs were quietly handed a new salary structure and allowances effected in February last year, and back-dated for one month.

In the new structures, the PSs, whose salaries vary according to seniority, were moved from job Group P to the top categories.

The lowest earning PS was moved from a salary of Sh152,060 to Sh213,640. This excludes Sh100,000 entertainment allowance and Sh100,000 extraneous allowance.

The highest earning senior PS would take home Sh423,280, up from 302,980 excluding the allowances for entertainment and extraneous expenses.

The letter did not mention other allowances like housing and domestic servants, which were not hiked, all that bring the combined package for a senior PS to about Sh700,000 a month.

As Members of Parliament discussed the pay raise on the floor of the House, several MPs who spoke to The Standard in Nyeri said plans are afoot to demand that the Sh38.70 they are paid per kilometre for mileage allowance be raised to reflect rising fuel prices.

They said the amount, set six years ago, was too little at a time when the price of petrol is over Sh100 per litre. At the time, fuel averaged Sh40 per litre.

MPs who spoke to The Standard were Mwea’s MP Peter Gitau, Peter Mwathi of Limuru and Subukia’s Nelson Gaichuhie.

MPs currently take home Sh366,000 per month in mileage allowance. They also rake Sh50,000 as constituency allowance, entertainment Sh60,000, extraneous Sh30,000, house allowance Sh70,000, and salary of Sh200, 000, among other perks.

The letter from Muthaura, who is also Secretary to the Cabinet, says the pay hike "cushions the PSs against rising inflation".

Muthaura’s confidential letter dated February 16, last year, read: "I am pleased to inform you that it has become necessary to adjust the salaries and allowances for Permanent Secretaries and Authorised Officers. These adjustments have been necessitated by the fact that the salaries and allowances for this category of staff were last reviewed in 2001, while those of other civil servants have been adjusted three times over the same period.

Since then, the salaries and allowances have been eroded by inflation, necessitating consideration for commensurate compensation."

Muthaura’s letter was copied to the then PS in the Ministry of Public Service Titus Ndambuki.

Civil servants and teachers who have had intermittent remuneration battles with the Government expressed disgust over the decision to give a pay raise only to PSs.

Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli said: "This is what continues to create large disparities between the top ranks and junior workers; it is the wrong policy."

"As much as we would like senior civil servants to earn better salaries, doctors, nurses, teachers and others require to get a salary increases too," said Atwoli.

He added: "This does not augur well for our society in general and development partners in a volatile economic situation where every Kenyan expects normalcy to return to the economy."

Civil servants are currently battling for a 45 per cent pay raise, a commuter and hardship allowance, which they want harmonised with that of teachers.

"We as the union take serious exception to this," said Mr Tom Odege, the secretary general of the Union of Kenya Civil Servants. He added it was the first time they have learnt of the pay hike.

The union commands a following of about 125,000 members comprising mostly junior civil servants.

Odege said the junior civil servants do most work but earn less while their seniors who earn more keep awarding themselves.

The process of negotiating more pay for civil servants had stalled until last Tuesday when Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno re-started the talks.

"What we want now is the plight of junior civil servants to be addressed promptly," Odege said.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers joined the condemnation bandwagon, saying the highest people in Government are courting trouble.

"This is a sign that the Government has a lot of money and that is why teachers will not take just anything but a hefty pay rise," said Knut secretary general Mr Francis Ng’ang’a.

Ng’ang’a said Knut, which is negotiating for better pay, would stop at nothing but the best deal negotiated since independence.

"PSs, ministers and their calibre keep on getting more money, that is why even us teachers will push for the best," he said on Wednesday.

He said it is unfortunate that PS’s are being awarded more money yet the Government should have first considered low-earning professionals.

On their part, the Kenya Union of Post Primary School Teachers (Kuppet) also said: "We are moving ahead to the Directorate of Personnel Management to seek harmonisation of teachers salaries now with that of civil servants."

Kuppet national chairman Akelo Misori said the Government is setting a bad precedence of considering people who are well placed and ignoring the majority small-scale earners who are worst hit by inflation.

Mr Misori said teachers, especially in job group L, M, and N who are seriously affected, should be sorted out before the Government can raise the PSs salaries.

In Parliament, Wetangula was at pains to explain why envoys were overlooked. He said the ministry preferred to have a comprehensive approach that would rationalise salaries of all staff serving in foreign missions.

"We want to streamline gaps of disproportionate scales and the exercise is complete, awaiting approval," Wetangula said.

The debate on salaries of diplomats caused uproar among MPs who accused Wetangula of being dishonest in his reply.

Wetangula reasoned that it would be unfair to have ambassadors earning about three or four times what their deputies earned. His answer sparked uproar.

Turkana Central MP Ekwe Ethuro said the honesty of the House was at stake as Wetangula gave the House dishonest answers and instead engaged in semantics to get away with questions asked by MPs.

Deputy Speaker Maalim Farah ruled that the answer provided by Wetangula was unsatisfactory and asked him to go back and do his homework before tabling a comprehensive answer.

Additional reporting by Saulo Morton, and Francis Ngige