Manage allowances in the public service
By Editorial, March 23, 2021
Kenya’s wage bill must embody some semblance of order for the country to achieve its strategic development milestones.
We must always bear in mind that if more funds go into paying salaries and allowances, this eats into the development kitty, which is counter-productive.
It is an open secret that for a long time, most Kenyans working in the public service do so not for the salary, but the perks that come with it.
Well, that is not to say that public servants are not well remunerated, but the impunity with which allowances are dished out is at times shocking.
The appetite for more cash has seen the public wage bill surge over the years having risen from Sh434.9 billion in 2012/13 to Sh827 billion in 2019/20.
Meanwhile, expenditure on allowances increased from Sh263.3 billion in 2015/16 to Sh322.5 billion in 2018/19.
Even as Treasury deepened austerity measures, a 2019 survey by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission identified at least 247 types of allowances paid to public officers. And they accounted for 48 per cent of the total wage bill in 2019.
This despite the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act 2015 stipulating that the national government’s expenditure on the wage bill should not exceed 35 per cent of ordinary revenue.
County Assemblies were not left behind in gobbling up tax payers cash in the name of allowances on foreign and domestic travel.
They now camouflage their frequent local travels by calling them seminars or exchange programmes, among other fancy names, in a move that is now making them rake in millions of shillings that could otherwise be used for development purposes.
With a budget of Sh3 trillion from coffers that are drying up, the economy calls for more sobriety on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is, therefore, about time that the salaries commission came out of its boardroom to deepen integrity in utilisation of public finds.
The commission must come up with a clear purpose, criteria, and rate of payment of allowances. While at it, it must ensure there is predictability in remuneration.
There must be minimal disparities in the gross remuneration package to attain the desired proportion of basic to gross salary which should be not less than 60 per cent.
Such can only be achieved by eliminating duplication of roles and disparities in allowances payable in the public space.
More importantly, the salaries commission must embed control mechanisms that ensure prudent management of financial resources according to the Constitution and PFM Act, 2012.