CS Ruku reveals allowances that will be increased together with salaries
By Sharon Atieno, July 19, 2026Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku has said the government has reviewed the gross pay, commuter allowance, housing allowance and other benefits for civil servants ahead of the implementation of the new public sector salary structure.
Speaking on Saturday, July 18, 2026, Ruku said the salary review would benefit public servants across the country, with the revised pay expected to take effect from August 1, 2026.
“The gross pay, commuter allowance, housing allowance have been reviewed, and other allowances have been increased,” Ruku said.
The announcement comes as the government prepares to implement the latest public sector salary review, which was initially expected to take effect on July 1, 2026, but was pushed forward by one month.
Ruku had earlier confirmed that the revised salary structure would include increases in basic salaries as well as key allowances.
“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,” he said.
Salary review to benefit public servants
The review is expected to cover employees in national government ministries, state departments, state corporations, county governments and other public institutions.
Earlier government communication indicated that monthly take-home pay could increase by between Ksh1,000 and Ksh55,364, depending on an employee’s job group and allowance structure.
The revised pay structure is expected to raise basic salaries for various job groups while also increasing housing and commuter allowances.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission is yet to publish the final salary scales that will determine the exact amount each employee will receive.
The review is being implemented under the Fourth Remuneration and Benefits Review Cycle covering the 2025-2029 period.
One-month deadline for government agencies
Besides announcing the salary review, Ruku has given government agencies one month to migrate to the Government Human Resource Information System (HRIS).
He said all ministries, departments, state agencies, corporations and other public institutions must be onboarded onto the unified platform to improve accountability in payroll management.
“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.
“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.
Payroll monitoring intensified
Ruku said the HRIS platform would enable the government to monitor payroll activities in real time and detect unauthorised changes.
The system is also expected to help identify duplicate payments, ghost workers and other irregularities that have 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.