Tens of thousands of civil servants getting hardship allowance are to miss out on the package as the government seeks to implement a report on the reclassification of the regions.
Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, told the National Assembly that the review of the hardship areas would see the government reduce the payment of the allowances from Sh25,984,087,848 to Sh19,532,995,548.
“I wish to inform the House that the implementation of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee report will reduce the financial implication for payment of hardship allowances from Sh25 billion to Sh19 billion per annum, thereby making a Sh6 billion saving by the government,” Mr Mudavadi, who is also the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary, said.
“This is as a result of the proposed harmonisation of the designated hardship areas in the public service.”
Mr Mudavadi was referring to a report of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee that conducted a wide stakeholder engagement on – among other things – the study of policies that govern the classification of hardship regions and the payment of such allowances to civil servants.
Despite the committee drafting and presenting the report to the relevant authorities in 2019, it has been gathering dust on government shelves and has never been implemented.
Mr Mudavadi told the National Assembly that the government is finally determined to implement the report, adding that some areas initially classified as hardship would lose that designation as per the recommendations of the committee.
The findings, Mr Mudavadi added, were presented to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which is expected to issue the new rates once the hardship areas are gazetted.
Mr Mudavadi said the report on the reviewed designated hardship regions has also been submitted to the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service for gazettement.
The Prime Cabinet Secretary told the National Assembly that among the key findings of the technical committee was that some areas currently designated as hardship were found not to be so.
The committee also found that some of the regions designated as hardship can cover an entire county, sub-counties and divisions.
Upon review by the committee, he said, it was noted that only specific locations in some of the regions qualify to be categorised as hardship.
Further, the report by the committee found that not every civil servant in such a region benefits from the allowance due to the disparities in policy guidelines by the public service.
According to the committee, some areas designated as hardship have acquired a different status after the devolved system of governance took effect in 2013 following the promulgation of the current Constitution, “which has led to socio-economic development across the country”.
Mr Mudavadi said the different categorisation of hardship regions was due to lack of a harmonised policy as various jurisdictions in the public service review the areas using different parameters.
“It is noted that the units of analyses for designated hardship areas are not harmonised. The civil service, for instance, uses the former district boundaries while the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) uses educational zones for categorisation,” Mr Mudavadi said.
At the moment, the civil service, devolved governments and state corporations categorise 16 areas as hardship, the teaching service identifies 44 while the Judiciary has 21.
The question on how the government classifies hardship areas for civil servants – teachers in particular – was raised in the House by Nyando MP Jared Okelo last month.
Lawmakers have complained that the classification of hardship areas by the government is skewed and discriminatory. Many have called for a review to reflect the current realities.
Hardship areas are remote and categorised as lacking or having inadequate basic social services, amenities and infrastructure such as food, water, health, education, transport and communication services.
The allowance was introduced in 1969 as an incentive for officers stationed in the regions. According to the Constitution, every Kenyan has a right to fair labour practices, including remuneration and reasonable working conditions.
