Elected leaders to take a pay cut after August 8 polls – Uhuru

All elected leaders and top state officers will have to take a pay cut after the August 8 polls.

In his State of the Nation Address before a joint sitting of the Senate and the National Assembly, the Head of State made this announcement after having received an interim report by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that recommended, among other things, the reduction of salaries for the President, Deputy President, Governors, Senators, MPs and MCAs for the period 2017-2022.

In his address, the President further termed the spiraling wage bill as “the biggest challenge and threat to our economy and national well-being” adding that this is a threat to destroy our development agenda as a nation.

“In simple terms, 50% of all the money collected as revenues in Kenya goes in to the pockets of less than 2% of the country’s total population,” said President Kenyatta.

He called on those in leadership to adopt the recommendations by SRC saying that the move would allow the government to pay more attention to medical professionals, teachers, policemen, prisons officers and many others who need to receive adequate compensation for the services that they render.

“As politicians we must accept that our ever increasing salaries and allowances have contributed to the unsustainable demands by other cadres within the public sector to increase their own remuneration at the expense of our people and the country’s development agenda.”

“I appreciate that the silent fear of every politician is ending their career in politics broke and destitute. However, we must always remember that the calling of leadership is to serve. Not to become rich through serving,” he added.

The President blamed the huge public wage bill, which stands at Ksh 627 billion, for the recently witnessed strikes which in turn denied Kenyans crucial services and disrupting normal functions and adversely affected the economy.

While acknowledging that the government has been under pressure from various unions to further increase the wage bill to unsustainable levels Kenyatta promised that these issues would be resolved soberly and fast.