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{
    "id": 47755,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/47755/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. M. Kilonzo",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 47,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move:- THAT, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Bill, Bill No.8 of 2011, be read a Second Time. First of all, again, this is a momentous occasion for the country. It is momentous in the sense that for decades, we have had problems with the issue of salaries and remunerations. When Kenyans were giving themselves a new Constitution last year, which was promulgated on 27th August, they gave themselves a present. The present was to ensure that the salaries and remunerations in the country have some modicum of commonsense and uniformity. Therefore, this Bill seeks to make further provision for the functions and powers of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, qualifications and procedures for the appointment of members of the Commission and for connected purposes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the high share of the public sector wage bill in total Government expenditure has over the years resulted in fewer resources being available to Government for investment in public infrastructure, and provision of other essential services such as education and health. It has also resulted in wage expenditure taking up higher proportions of Recurrent Budgets, leaving fewer resources for operations and maintenance, thus compromising the effectiveness of public sector institutions in delivery of services. Managing the public sector wage bill within a sustainable economic framework, while harmonising the remuneration structure, has been a major concern for the Government in recent years. We have, on previous occasions, made unsuccessful attempts to establish a sustainable public sector wage bill. Since Independence in 1963, the Government has constituted, at different times, 14 ad hoc commissions and committees to advise it on remunerations in various subsectors of the public service, resulting in recommendations whose implementation was responsible for the current wage disparities. In fact, one of those institutions is Parliament itself, which has led to serious misunderstanding between Parliament and the public regarding remuneration. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also struggled with a strategy for improving internal consistency, equity and transparency of our remuneration structure in the public service. In 1997, for instance, the Government appointed the Kipkulei Salaries Harmonisation Commission to collect and analyse data and information, including public views, on wage bill management and public sector remuneration, and recommend measures to be undertaken to harmonise remuneration in the Public Service in a manner that was sustainable, equitable and consistent with the country’s desire to improve efficiency and productivity in the entire public sector. The Commission observed that remuneration in the Public Service was low and uncompetitive, particularly for policy-level managers, senior managers and middle level and technical professional staff. The Commission further observed that public servants with similar educational and professional qualifications, and performing similar duties, were remunerated differently in the various subsectors of the Public Service, this being largely a result of selective salary reviews, and the delinking of some departments from the Civil Service. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kipkulei Commission also noted that in desperate attempts to bargain for improvement of remuneration packages, some Government Departments sought to be delinked from the mainstream Civil Service, even when their core functions legitimately belonged to the Civil Service. In an attempt to remedy this state of affairs, the Government implemented part of the Kipkulei Commission recommendations by increasing the remunerations for its policy level managers by between 400 and 500 per cent with effect from 1st January, 2002. However, other cadres of civil servants did not benefit, thus creating a huge remuneration gap between the policy level managers and their subordinates, making it imperative to harmonise remuneration structures as soon as possible. This huge wage disparity still subsists. It is for that reason that the people of Kenya themselves created the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, under Article 230 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. In fact, even during the pre-referendum debate this Article did not receive any adverse comments. I want to salute Kenyans for accepting it the way it was framed. In essence, the people were saying that there was need to ensure that the total public compensation expenditure was fiscally sustainable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the public was, in essence, further saying that there was need to ensure that the Public Service is able to attract and retain the skills required to execute its functions; but there was also need to recognise productivity and performance; above all, there was need for transparency and fairness in the remuneration structure. The Bill addresses all these principles. It has also incorporated the Public Pay Policy, 2006."
}