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Salary disparities in the civil service
Swenani
#1 Posted : Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:49:22 AM
Rank: User

Joined: 8/15/2013
Posts: 13,237
Location: Vacuum
A new report has exposed shocking salary disparities between civil servants, showing that the highest paid cadre earn almost 100 times more than the lowest. According to the report to be released Thursday, the highest paid civil servant — mainly Cabinet Secretaries at job group V — earns a mean basic salary of Sh737,332, while the lowest paid — in Job Group A — earns a basic salary of Sh7,701. The report, which further shows that some constitutional office holders could be earning some allowances illegally, is an indictment on the government’s pay structure that has been blamed for the rising public wage bill. GETTING OUT OF HAND Last week, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission said the public wage bill was getting out of hand and could pose a challenge to Kenya’s ambition to become an industrialised nation by 2030. “There is need to compress civil service wages by reducing the difference between the highest and lowest paid,” says the Public Private Sector Wage Differentials in Kenya report, which was compiled by the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis. The report proposes the proportion of basic pay to one’s total pay be no less than 75 per cent. If the proposal is adopted, top-level civil servants will lose their lucrative pay because allowances will either be eliminated, merged or redesigned to reduce the ballooning wage bill and inequality. “The SRC should undertake a comprehensive review of all allowances with a view to standardising them or including them as part of basic pay,” the report says. Civil servants earn 16 different allowances, although most of them are enjoyed by top staff including principal secretaries and directors. The payments include commuter, housing, medical, transport, entertainment and uniform allowances. Some job groups are entitled to more allowances than others, benefiting the higher and middle job cadres, the report says. The report, which also exposes disparities among staff working in the same grades, recommends that some lower cadre grades in the public service be merged or redesigned. Lower earners have been disadvantaged in distribution of allowances, with individuals in the lowest job group earning the least, according to the findings. Some allowances are paid selectively, many times constituting a high proportion of gross salary. The allowances are comparatively attractive for the higher cadres of job group R and above. Staff in Job group V take home Sh889,912 as allowances, while those in Job group B get only Sh16,423. With the allowances added, the highest paid civil servants in Job group V take home a mean gross salary of Sh1.6 million, while the lowest paid is in Job group B and earns a mean gross salary of only Sh24,906. Those earning more than Sh100,000 as mean gross salary are in Job group J and above. Those in job group V take home Sh99,188 as house allowance and Sh107,143 as extraneous allowance. ENTERTAINMENT ALLOWANCE They also enjoy Sh469,156 in special salary, compared to the Sh165 given to those in job group H. Entertainment allowance in the civil service is a preserve of those in job group N and above. Employees in this group receive an entertainment allowance of Sh1,500 while those in job group V receive a monthly allowance of Sh104,000 for the same purpose. Those between job group A and M do not get any entertainment allowances. Public servants, especially those in higher job groups, earn higher basic salaries and allowances combined when compared with staff of the private sector, according to the findings. Those working in state corporations and constitutional commissions earn even higher salaries. “However when civil service salaries and basic salary is compared to private sector, the wage premium is in favour of the private sector,” the study says. Exposed: Horrors in public service wages

The pay disparity between government officials with the same qualifications, but working in different sectors, can now be revealed. It has emerged that workers attached to constitutional offices earn more than those in the civil service, despite possessing the same skills and experience. Teachers and instructors at various levels of education, medical and clinical officers, civil engineers, typists and clerks within the public sector are underpaid for the work they do. Other professionals in the civil service who suffer a wage penalty—which results in a pay gap—include service workers, skilled farm, fishery and wildlife related workers, craft and related workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers. This is the opposite for their counterparts in the private sector who are given better wages despite possessing similar qualifications. Within the civil service, the report found out that legislators, administrators and managers are overpaid. Although workers in the private sector earn more, wage differentials in State corporations and parastatals, constitutional offices and local government, the report says, are in favour of the public sector due to the allowances attached to them. A detailed report with the pay structure shows those who work in constitutional offices and State corporations receive a higher pay compared to those who work in the civil service. It is for this reason that, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission led by Ms Sarah Serem will undertake a job evaluation aimed placing salaries of government workers with the same qualifications at the same level. Secretarial, clerical and related workers across the public sector generally earn less than what the private sector offers for similar work. Wage penalties by different occupations reveal that a primary school teacher in the civil service has a wage penalty of Sh6,783 and Sh7,000 in the county government. Those in secondary schools get Sh15,629 less of what they are supposed to get in terms of basic salary. University and post-secondary teachers in state corporations face a wage penalty of Sh6,941. The report found out that other teachers and instructors in civil service earn a basic wage penalty of Sh25,675. Medical officers are being underpaid by Sh7,940.
If Obiero did it, Who Am I?
Swenani
#2 Posted : Tuesday, February 18, 2014 3:27:41 PM
Rank: User

Joined: 8/15/2013
Posts: 13,237
Location: Vacuum
http://www.nation.co.ke/.../-/14b465w/-/index.html

How does this happen?

Quote:
“Some officers are doing very interesting things where they promote themselves for duration of time and they return back to their normal category,” said Ms Waiguru.

“Some in job group P or T for example have promoted themselves for two or three months drawing salaries equal to PSs,” she added.


http://www.nation.co.ke/...6/-/4qnyk3/-/index.html

Quote:
They have been substituting names of dead or retired employees with those of their cronies, creating a bloated service that has been costing tax payers Sh1.8 billion annually.

The complicated system where numbers of public servants are retained long after they ceased working in the public sector has been blamed on employees in charge of the payroll and those in the finance departments of Government institutions.

The administrators have been cashing in on loopholes in the public service structure and an outdated IT system that has not kept pace with developments in modern finance to ensure theft of public money goes undetected.
If Obiero did it, Who Am I?
willin2learn
#3 Posted : Tuesday, February 18, 2014 3:38:53 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 2/12/2008
Posts: 1,178
Swenani wrote:
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/-/1056/2211546/-/14b465w/-/index.html

How does this happen?

Quote:
“Some officers are doing very interesting things where they promote themselves for duration of time and they return back to their normal category,” said Ms Waiguru.

“Some in job group P or T for example have promoted themselves for two or three months drawing salaries equal to PSs,” she added.


http://www.nation.co.ke/...6/-/4qnyk3/-/index.html

Quote:
They have been substituting names of dead or retired employees with those of their cronies, creating a bloated service that has been costing tax payers Sh1.8 billion annually.

The complicated system where numbers of public servants are retained long after they ceased working in the public sector has been blamed on employees in charge of the payroll and those in the finance departments of Government institutions.

The administrators have been cashing in on loopholes in the public service structure and an outdated IT system that has not kept pace with developments in modern finance to ensure theft of public money goes undetected.


Waiguru is using very sweet words. How can she call outright theft 'interesting'. She is being too casual with corruption
Angelica _ann
#4 Posted : Tuesday, February 18, 2014 4:18:32 PM
Rank: Elder

Joined: 12/7/2012
Posts: 11,941
willin2learn wrote:
Swenani wrote:
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/-/1056/2211546/-/14b465w/-/index.html

How does this happen?

Quote:
“Some officers are doing very interesting things where they promote themselves for duration of time and they return back to their normal category,” said Ms Waiguru.

“Some in job group P or T for example have promoted themselves for two or three months drawing salaries equal to PSs,” she added.


http://www.nation.co.ke/...6/-/4qnyk3/-/index.html

Quote:
They have been substituting names of dead or retired employees with those of their cronies, creating a bloated service that has been costing tax payers Sh1.8 billion annually.

The complicated system where numbers of public servants are retained long after they ceased working in the public sector has been blamed on employees in charge of the payroll and those in the finance departments of Government institutions.

The administrators have been cashing in on loopholes in the public service structure and an outdated IT system that has not kept pace with developments in modern finance to ensure theft of public money goes undetected.


Waiguru is using very sweet words. How can she call outright theft 'interesting'. She is being too casual with corruption

That is interesting, since when?
In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins - cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later - H Geneen
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