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{
"id": 1562091,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562091/?format=api",
"text_counter": 267,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Musalia Mudavadi",
"speaker_title": "The Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 84,
"legal_name": "Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi",
"slug": "musalia-mudavadi"
},
"content": "Public Service, 2016 provides for payment of hardship allowance for officers stationed in designated hardship areas as an incentive to partially compensate public servants working in designated hardship areas. Let me now go to very specific aspects required of the Statement. First, the House wants an overview on the criteria used by the Ministry of Public Service and Human Capital Development in determining hardship areas in the country. Designation of hardship areas was previously undertaken consultatively with the Office of the President, the then Provincial Administration and Internal Security, and the Directorate of Personnel Management. The designation of hardship areas and payment of hardship allowance was to be progressively reviewed as areas became relatively developed and socioeconomic conditions improved across the country. It is noted that over the years, various jurisdictions in the public service, including the civil service, the teaching service, and the Judiciary, have independently reviewed hardship areas using different parameters thereby creating disparities in terms of categorisation and rates of payment. It is further noted that the units of analysis for designated hardship areas are not harmonised and vary across public service jurisdictions. For instance, the civil service uses the former district boundaries while the teaching service, under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), uses educational zones for categorisation. Currently, the civil service, the county governments, and State corporations have 16 designated hardship areas. The teaching service has 44, while the Judiciary has 21 designated hardship areas. In the Statement I provided to Parliament, there is Appendix 1 which indicates the list of those designated hardship areas. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) identified and weighted seven parameters to guide the determination and re-categorisation of hardship areas. The parameters were food, water, transport and communication services, social services, climate and terrain, security and the poverty index. The weighted criteria are provided by the KNBS and I have attached Appendix 2 to this Statement to help members as they reflect on this. The second critical issue was that the House wanted to know the status report of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee on the mode of addressing existing disparities in designated hardship allowances in the public service. In cognisance of the existing disparities in designated hardship areas in the public service, and to promote fairness and parity of treatment of public servants, the Government, through the Ministry responsible for public service, constituted an Inter-Agency Technical Committee to undertake a study and review designated hardship areas. The Inter-Agency Technical Committee was appointed by the then Ministry of Public Service and Gender in March 2019. The Committee comprised representatives from the following institutions: the then Ministry of Public Service and Gender, the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, the Ministry of Education, the National Treasury and Planning, the Judiciary, the Public Service Commission (PSC), the TSC, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA), the KNBS and the Council of Governors."
}