Government responds to claims of a plan to reduce civil servants’ salaries after SRC pay rise
Government responds to claims of a plan to reduce civil servants’ salaries after SRC pay rise
The government has dismissed claims that it is in the process of revising civil servants’ salaries downwards, assuring public officers that no pay cuts are under consideration. The clarification follows recent reports suggesting that salary adjustments had been made to introduce reductions.
The concerns emerged even as civil servants in Kenya’s national government began 2026 with a pay rise backdated to July 1, 2025, after the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) approved new salaries and allowances under Phase I of the 2025–2029 remuneration review cycle.
Geoffrey Ruku, the Public Service Cabinet Secretary, dismissed the claims, emphasising that the government’s priority is not to slash salaries but to implement measures aimed at boosting civil servants’ take-home pay.
Responding to claims that recent adjustments were intended to introduce salary cuts, Ruku maintained that the government has no plans to reduce what civil servants are currently earning. He urged public servants to disregard the reports and remain focused on service delivery.
”We just revised the salaries upwards the other day. I want to tell you that the government has no plans at all to adjust the salaries downwards,” Ruku clarified during an interview on Radio Citizen on Wednesday.
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He further emphasised that any decision to reduce salaries would require parliamentary approval. ”For a fact, it is only Parliament with the ability to make such cuts to salaries through the legislative process, and I can say that there is no such consideration before the House. I want to assure that there is absolutely no need to panic,” he added.
The new salary structure, which took effect on January 1, covers grades from CSG1 to CSG17 and other designated job groups, with allowances calculated based on location and job classification.
The changes include the introduction of a Salary Market Adjustment (SMA), which consolidates entertainment, domestic servant, and extraneous allowances into a single streamlined adjustment aimed at simplifying administration.
Under the revised framework, house allowances are divided into three clusters. Cluster 1 covers Nairobi, Cluster 2 includes major cities such as Mombasa, Kisumu, and Nakuru, as well as key municipalities, while Cluster 3 applies to all other areas across the country.
According to the SRC, civil servants stationed in Nairobi are set to benefit the most from the house allowance increase, while staff in smaller towns and rural areas will receive comparatively lower rates in line with cost-of-living differences.
For instance, officers in higher grades, such as CSG4, will earn a basic salary ranging between Ksh185,690 and Ksh396,130, with house allowances of up to Ksh140,600 for those in Nairobi. Lower-grade employees, including CSG15 officers, will receive between Ksh21,120 and Ksh26,250, with house allowances of up to Ksh4,500.
The SRC noted that the SMA is designed to align public service salaries with market realities while ensuring compliance with constitutional and statutory principles.
The pay rise marks the first phase of the fourth remuneration and benefits review cycle for 2025–2029, with further reviews expected in subsequent phases.
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