The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) wants the National Assembly to shoot down a Bill that seeks to have chairperson and members serve on a part-time basis.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the SRC Act to provide for the part-time service of the chairperson and commissioners on the basis that the functions of the commission are periodic and that they are not required to perform their duties on a full-time basis.
In a memorandum on the Bill to the Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge, SRC Commission Secretary Anne Gitau notes that the mandate of SRC is continuous “and not occasional as stated in the Bill.”
“The commission is opposed to the amendments proposed in the Bill. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to communicate SRC’s views on the amendments proposed in the Bill,” says Ms Gitau noting; “SRC appreciates your cooperation and support as we discharge our respective mandates.”
The SRC Amendment Bill sponsored by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa seeks to amend the parent Act to provide that the commission Chairperson and members appointed under Article 230 (2) of the constitution shall serve on a part-time basis for a non-renewable term of six years.
Mr Barasa argues that if passed, the Bill will reduce the operational costs of the commission associated with the full-time running of the commission.
“Further, the commission’s functions on setting and reviewing the remuneration and benefits of all state officers and advising the national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers are done occasionally,” the Kimilili MP says.
But the SRC Commission Secretary told the National Assembly that if the commission were to operate on a part-time basis, it would not be able to fully discharge its mandate, with far-reaching ramifications inter alia,” says Ms Gitau in the memorandum.
“The benefits of allowing SRC to operate optimally by retaining the current status to allow the chairperson and members of SRC to continue serving on a full-time basis far outweigh any operational cost savings from converting their terms to part-time,” Ms Gitau adds.
Ms Gitau notes that the mandate of SRC as established under Article 230 (4) of the constitution “is continuous and not occasional as stated in the Bill.”
As per Article and Section 11 of the SRC Act of 2011, the commission chairperson and members “are required on a day-to-day basis for the discharge of the commission’s mandate.
Previously the SRC Act provided that its chairperson and commission members serve on a part-time basis.
However, the Act was amended in 2018 to convert the terms of the chairperson and members with the exception of the ex officio members from part-time to full-time.
“The commission hereby confirms that the reasons that informed the conversion of terms of the chairperson and members to fulltime in 2018 still obtain. An amendment to revert the terms of the chairperson and members to part-time would severely compromise the commission’s efficiency and operations,” says Ms Gitau.
Ms Gitau notes that if the Bill is enacted as published, it will affect the country’s trajectory towards attaining a wage bill-to-revenue ratio of 35 percent as well as attraction and retention of remuneration and benefits to achieve equity and fairness.
The commission will also be hampered in its mandate to ensure progressive harmonization of remuneration and benefits to achieve equity and fairness, and advise the government on proposals and requests from public service institutions within the agreed service level turnaround time.
Ms Gitau further notes that the timely advice on collective bargaining negotiations and continuous job evaluation, monitoring and stakeholder engagements will be affected by the passage of the Bill in its current form.
