STILL WAITING: SRC chairperson Sarah Serem addresses the media on the wage bill during a press conference in Nairobi on February 14.
THE Salaries and Remuneration Commission has said that it is not aware of the decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto to cut their salaries by 20 percent.
By law the two leaders are required to notify the SRC in writing of their decision at the Nanyuki retreat on March 7. SRC chairperson Sarah Serem yesterday said that she had not yet received any official communication concerning the President and his Deputy, or the Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries who promised to take a 10 percent pay cut.
“So far we have not received any written communications from the Executive or the MPs asking us to reduce their salaries by a certain percentage," said Serem. The salaries of the leaders therefore remain unchanged.
Serem said she will communicate with the Treasury and payroll officers to implement the pay cuts as soon as she receives the official communication.
"The SRC does not need to gazette the salary reduction of the president because it is not changing to a new salary structure. It is just his own donation," Serem said.
Once the SRC receives the written communication, it will advise the payroll officers that the pay cut be implement and that the balance be remitted to the Treasury as a 'donation'.
The President has complained that the public service wage bill is unsustainable at over Sh400 billion a year and it. Uhuru also wants parastatal chiefs to take 20 percent pay cuts.
The SRC is currently collecting views countrywide on how to reduce the wage bill. Some Jubilee MPs have indicated that they are willing to give up 10 percent of their salaries but none of them has officially informed the SRC.
Kimani Ichung'wah (Kikuyu), Kanini Keega (Kieni), Thuo Gethinji (Tetu), Esther Murugi (Nyeri), Peter Weru (Mathira) and Kabando Kabando (Mukurweini) have said they would take pay cuts.
Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki and Meru senatorKiraitu Murungi have also said they will accept pay cuts. Yesterday National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said he had not received a letter from any MP directing that their salary be slashed, and nor had the Clerk of the National Assembly.
"Even if they wrote to us, we do not have the power to change any figure in their salaries. They should write to the SRC," said Muturi. “It was a political directive which has no legal backing. SRC cannot take such directive withiout official communication as it will be unconstitutional,” said Ashford Muriuki, president of the East African Law Society.
Suna MP Junet Mohamed said Jubilee was just playing politics over salaries instead of reducing the cost of living. The President’s starting salary is presently Sh1,237,500, rising to Sh1, 650,000 in the fifth year in office. The Deputy President’s starting salary is Sh1,051,875 a month, rising to Sh1,402,500 in his last year in office.
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