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SRC audits universities on pay rule compliance

 

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has launched a nationwide tour of public universities to ascertain compliance with rules on employee salary and allowances.

This comes in the wake of concerns that some of the institutions paid illegal allowances to staff despite a heavy debt burden estimated at Sh56billion.

“In this regard, the Commission shall be undertaking several visits to public universities aimed at achieving two goals namely to engage the leadership of public universities, and secondly to monitor adherence to remuneration and benefits as set reviewed and advised by SRC,” the commission said.

Some of the public universities that SRC will be visiting include Tharaka University, Meru University of Science and Technology, Murangá University, Embu University, Rongo University, College, Tom Mboya University, the Technical University of Mombasa and Maasai Mara University.

The visits will take place between October 31 to November 11.

Other universities that will be visited include Alupe University, Pwani University, University of Kabianga, Kaimosi Friends University, Taita Taveta University, Koitaleel Samoei University College, and Kibabii University, and Machakos University.

“To strengthen the management of the public wage bill, SRC and public universities regularly engage and consistently analyse the wage bill data towards, the identification of emerging wage bill trends and intrinsic characteristics of the trends,” SRC added.

The commission is set to trim public workers’ allowances following a review of their perks in an exercise expected to be complete and effected this month.

The State aims to cap allowances at a maximum of 40 percent of a public worker’s gross pay, shifting from the present unregulated model that inflates the workers’ take-home.

There are currently over 247 remunerative and facilitative allowances, up from 31 in 1999, payable within the public sector and they have the effect of doubling a worker’s monthly pay and account for 48 percent of the State wage bill.

If the policy is adopted for all government employees, the remuneration guidelines are expected to cut the wage bill by approximately Sh100 billion annually or Sh2 billion weekly.

The commission also rejected pay rise requests worth Sh18.83 billion from state agencies in nine months to March to lower the wage bill to total revenue ratio.

The cut in perks is one of the strategies, alongside a freeze in new hiring and removal of ghost workers aimed at reducing Kenya’s ballooning public wage bill.     BY DAILY NATION   

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