County services likely to stall over MCA
salary impasse

Activities in the 47 County Assemblies could be further affected if the standoff on pay review between the MCAs and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) persists.

In a move likely to halt critical operations in the regional assemblies, the Members of County Assembly (MCAs) told the Salaries Commission to stop the salaries review until an amicable solution is arrived at.
This even as SRC opposed the proposal by MCAs to increase their salaries by 40 per cent of a governor’s gross salary.

The MCAs argued that their salary increment should be at least 40 per cent of a Governor’s gross pay, which stands at Sh924, 000. This means that should they have their way, they will be pocketing Sh390, 270 per month gross salary.

Yesterday, while appearing before the Senate’s Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee chaired by Wajir legislator Sheikh Abbas, the Commission’s chair Lyn Mengich (pictured) stated that the parameters for job evaluation criteria stipulated in the Constitution and SRC Act 2011 is not based on the governor’s salary to cap the pay for Ward representatives.

“We use job evaluation as a methodology to help us re-assess the relative work of the comparative work of jobs in the public service. We don’t use a parameter that says because the president earns at this level, so we must use the same percentage to gauge others’ pay,” said Mengich.

The ward reps currently earn about Sh144,375 which includes a basic salary of Sh86,625, a house allowance of Sh45,000 and a salary market adjustment of Sh12,750.