Kenya has put on hold plans to increase the salaries of state officers from July 1.
The country's Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) said on Wednesday that it had "frozen the upward review of salaries for all state officers and will review the advice for all other public officers to ensure wage bill's affordability and fiscal sustainability."
SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said the commission decided to reverse the planned increment of salaries after engaging in public consultations.
The SRC had published an official communication in the Kenya Gazette in August 2023 of its plan to increase state officers' salaries from July 1, 2024.
'Live within our means'
Kenya's President William Ruto directed the country's finance ministry to have the proposed salaries increment put on hold.
President Ruto said the move would help Kenya "live within our means."
The council of governors, an association of all the 47 Kenyan governors, urged the SRC to withdraw plans to increase state officers' salaries.
According to the proposed salaries, a member of parliament (MP) would take home 739,600 shillings ($5,730) monthly, from 725,500 shillings ($5,620) currently.
Wastage in government
A governor's new monthly salary would be 990,000 shillings ($7,620), from 957,000 shillings ($7,420) currently. Ministers' salaries, which are similar to governors', were also supposed to increase by the same margin. Kenya has 22 cabinet ministers.
The proposed salaries increment would cost Kenya nearly 11 billion shillings ($85.3 million) every year, Kenya's Nation newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The decision to reverse the proposed salaries comes at a time citizens are asking President Ruto's administration to contain wastage in government.
The recent anti-tax hike protests in Kenya claimed the lives of at least 39 people, according to the state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). The protests prompted Ruto to decline the Finance Bill 2024, which had proposed higher taxes.
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