Gov’t Averts Strike, Raises Civil Servants’ Salaries by Sh1000 and Sh3000

Civil servants are set to get a salary increment of between Sh1,000 and Sh3,000, backdated to July 1, 2024. 

Public Service Principal Secretary Amos Gathecha said in a circular civil servants will also receive a higher house allowance.

According to the new structure, which covers the second phase of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the lowest cadre within the civil service, whose current pay is Sh16,910, will now go home with the new pay of Sh18,250 while those earning Sh19,220 per month will now receive Sh20,560 effective July 1, 2024.

In a deal brokered between Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi and representatives from the workers’ union, government employees who have been taking home Sh23,700 will also see changes in their payslips.

For the higher job groups, the increment has also been effected.

Civil servants earning Sh102,860 per month will now take home Sh105,570 per month while those earning Sh125,630 will now find Sh127,340 in their bank accounts.

This seems to have averted a planned strike by the group. It could have added more mystery and pressure to government which is struggling with demands from different groups over pay.

Meanwhile, student leaders from universities across the country, including private institutions, are demanding the scrapping or amendment of the new university funding model, or they will paralyze learning in all universities across the country.

The students are also calling for a reduction of interest charged on higher education loans from 4 percent to 2 percent.

This comes a day after University of Nairobi students held demonstrations to protest the new university funding model.

If not fully scrapped, the students want the model amended, specifically to remove the last two bands which they say are punitive.

“We wouldn’t have reached this point if not for the new funding model,” said Kabarak University student leader Evans Serem.

The students are criticizing the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) used to classify students into different funding categories, saying it is riddled with data inaccuracies and inadequate grading parameters.

“We were not involved when they were formulating this new model… We must remind them that it’s time they invite us to the committee table,” KU student leader Boniface Ododa noted.

If these demands are not met, the students have threatened to stage nationwide university students’ protests against the model on September 9, 2024.