Allowances –The Salaries and Remuneration Commission SRC has announced that it is considering chopping off several allowances for State officials.
In the notice released on Monday October 2, the salaries commission indicated that this move will be affecting civil servants in different cadres. It listed those working in Ministries, State departments and government agencies.
It will be chopping off allowances such as plenary sitting allowance, ministerial allowance and taxable car allowance.
In addition, the SRC has targeted retreat allowance, sitting allowance for institutional internal committees and taskforce allowance for institutional internal committees.
An insider at the SRC confirmed to a local news outlet that the six allowances as listed had already ceased being payable to civil servants.
Earlier in August this year, SRC’s circular showed that the retreat allowance is paid to public officers who participate in special assignments. The allowance is strictly allocated to State officers who develop and produce policy documents away from their offices.
While abolishing the allowance, SRC issued the justification that a staffer’s capabilities are established during the recruitment phase hence the need for extra allowances that don’t offer value for taxpayer money was not necessary.
This move taking place even as the SRC recently increased salaries of State officials and civil servants country wide.
On Wednesday, August 9, the SRC announced a salary increase of between 7% and 10% for all civil servants.
Making the confirmation, SRC Chairperson Lyn Mengich announced that the commission and the National Treasury had agreed on the increase to be backdated to July 1, 2023.
The SRC boss stated that the review was made with the intention of increasing productivity in the public sector, while at the same time upholding fiscal responsibility.
