Public Service Cabinet Secretary (CS) Geoffrey Ruku has given government agency chief executive officers (CEOs) one month to migrate their institutions to the Government Human Resource Information System (HRIS) ahead of the implementation of the new public sector salary structure.

Ruku said all government agencies must be onboarded onto the unified system to enhance accountability in payroll management and eliminate irregularities, including ghost workers.

Speaking during a public engagement on Saturday, July 18, 2026, the CS warned that institutions that fail to comply with the directive within the given timeframe risk consequences as the government moves to centralise human resource and payroll management.

One-month deadline

“I am still insisting as a minister that all the government agencies who have not onboarded on the Human Resource Information System have one month to ensure that all of you are on the government system,” Ruku said.

He said the era of separate payroll systems and manual processes was coming to an end, insisting that all government agencies must operate on a single platform.

“Those days of having different systems are things of the past. Any government agency must be on one single platform,” he added.

Ruku also warned chief executive officers of government corporations, parastatals and independent institutions that failure to comply with the directive would attract administrative action.

“I must sound a warning to all the CEOs who are in charge of different corporations, parastatals and independent formations. If you are not going to abide by the Cabinet directives, we will institute administrative action as government to ensure that you follow the directive to migrate to the Human Resource Information System within one month because statutory deductions must be paid at source,” Ruku said.

The directive comes as the government prepares to implement a salary review for civil servants from August 1, 2026.

Salary increase from August 1

Ruku has confirmed that the salary increment, which was initially expected to take effect on July 1, will now be implemented from August 1.

The review will cover basic salaries as well as housing and commuter allowances for public servants across the country.

“The government has assured you that by the end of this month of July, there will be a salary increase. Gross pay will be increased, housing allowance will be increased and commuter allowance will also be increased so that all civil servants in the Republic of Kenya can continue benefiting from higher salaries and increased allowances,” Ruku said.

The revised pay structure is expected to benefit employees in national government ministries, state departments, state corporations, county governments and other public institutions.

CEOs face payroll scrutiny

Ruku said the HRIS platform would allow the government to monitor payroll activities in real time and detect unauthorised changes.

The system is also expected to help identify duplicate payments and other irregularities that have previously raised concerns over the management of public funds.

“We are monitoring all the activities in the system in real time. Any single manipulation can be seen from our side,” he said.

The Cabinet Secretary’s directive places the responsibility on CEOs and heads of government agencies to ensure their institutions are fully integrated into the system before the new salary structure takes effect.

The government says the reforms will strengthen transparency in the public service and ensure salaries and allowances are paid only to verified employees.