A parliamentary committee has rejected a proposal to make commissioners of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) part-time.
The National Assembly's Labour Committee, in its report tabled in Parliament, rejected the proposal contained in the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Bill, 2024, saying the work of commissioners is continuous and not occasional and therefore requires full-time commitment.
The committee's report also noted the need to manage and mitigate the ballooning public sector wage bill, which remains a major concern in the country, a function that requires consistency.
According to the report, commissioners need to dedicate their time and energy and focus fully on the execution of their mandate.
The committee further noted that most of the independent and constitutional commissions have the chairperson and most of the members on a full-time basis, saying only a few commissions have the chairperson and members on a part-time basis, such as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
“The committee, having considered the Bill and stakeholder submissions, and having made the above observations, recommends that the House rejects the Bill in its entirety,” reads the report.
The report will now be debated by the full House, which can either accept the committee's recommendations or reject them and proceed with the Bill.
The Bill, sponsored by Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, seeks to make the chairperson and members of the SRC part-time and to limit the number of meetings to 15 per financial year from the minimum of four provided for in the principal Act.
According to Mr Barasa's proposal, the SRC's functions of advising national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers are occasional and therefore do not require full-time commissioners.
“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. Therefore, the Bill seeks to reduce operational costs of the commission associated with the full-term running of the commission,” reads the draft law.
According to Mr Barasa, the first commissioners of the SRC under the leadership of Sarah Serem, put in place all the systems necessary for a functioning organisation, hence there is not much work for subsequent commissioners to do on a full-time basis.
The commission is made up of 14 members who work on a full-time basis. They serve on six-year fixed-term contracts and enjoy a wide range of benefits, including an end-of-service gratuity at the rate of 31 percent of basic annual pay for each year served.
The monthly remuneration for state officers on a full-time constitutional commission such as the SRC is Sh765,000 for the chairperson and Sh650,000 for the vice chairperson and other members.
Other benefits include official transport, in-patient medical cover of up to Sh10 million and out-patient cover of Sh300,000.
Most commissioners are provided with either a government-maintained vehicle or a chauffeur-driven four-wheel-drive vehicle. The average cost of running each vehicle is between Sh30,000 and Sh50,000 per month.
The Commissioners are entitled to a per diem allowance at the prevailing rates for Job Group 'U' (level of a Principal Secretary). Commissioners are entitled to business class travel for both domestic and international travel.
An analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office last month showed that at least Sh767 million will be saved annually, translating to Sh4.6 billion at the end of six years, if the bill is enacted.
The budget office also told MPs that in addition to the savings, making the SRC a part-time commission could provide a calm working environment, thereby reducing conflicts of interest between the secretariat and the commission.
While appearing before the committee to make its submissions on the proposed law, the SRC opposed the Bill, arguing that if the commissioners were to work on a part-time basis, it would not be able to fully discharge its mandate and this would have far-reaching consequences.
“The benefits of allowing the commission to operate optimally by retaining the current status, allowing the chairperson and members to continue serving on a full-time basis, outweigh any operational cost savings from converting the terms to part-time,” SRC told MPs.
The Commission told MPs that adopting the amendment to change the terms of service would severely compromise the commission’s efficiency and operations.
