The government through the new Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Gender and Affirmative Action Aisha Jumwa has announced plans to increase the salaries of civil servants.
Jumwa said a technical committee will be formed to review and make recommendations for the appropriate pay rise in the next 100 days.
Speaking after touring the Nairobi Huduma Centre on Monday, Jumwa said the pay rise is one of several reforms the government will implement to improve service delivery.
“Civil servants are a demoralised lot and we don’t want to see them suffering. They are unable to cope with the high cost of living occasioned by runaway inflation. As Kenya Kwanza Government, we want to revamp their morale by increasing their salaries as soon as possible,” she said.
“I am a leader and a mother too. I know a majority of the public servants are grappling to pay school fees for their children, pay rent and fend for their families. It’s a sad state of affairs but I have come to solve the problem so that they can live a dignified life.”
Aisha Jumwa also reasoned that if public servants are well-remunerated, there will be less corruption in government offices.
Jumwa also said the country’s wage bill is manageable and that there is money to cater for the salary increment.
“We have 900,000 people working for 50 million Kenyans. Who says we have a bloated wage bill? The country has enough money to give the public servants a pay rise and carry on with its development agenda,” she said.
CS Aisha Jumwa at the same time announced the ministry has extended working hours in 18 Huduma centers to ensure the success of Huduma Kenya Service Delivery Programme.
The centres will operate from 7 am to 7 pm.
“The ministry has commenced extending working hrs on a shift basis for the Huduma Contact Centre from 7 am to 9 pm,” she said, adding that they will also introduce more centres countrywide.
“We are going to launch the model sub-county Huduma Centre in partnership with the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) in preparation to set up at least 100 Huduma centres across various sub-counties in the next five years,” she said.
“We will also launch a new revamped training programme on Huduma Kenya Standards and Customer Service Excellence to equip staff with the required skills to serve customers better.”
Further, Jumwa said the ministry will launch a tree planting program through Huduma Centre Adopt a ‘County-Forest’ with the target to plant 500 million trees in the next 5 years.
