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SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem. Photo/ FILE

Kenya

SRC expresses fears over budget cut threat

SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem. Photo/ FILE

SRC Chairperson Sarah Serem. Photo/ FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 13 – The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has expressed concern over threats by Members of the National Assembly to cut its budget by 15 percent saying it will cripple the scheduled mass job evaluation exercise.

SRC Communications Manager Ali Chege told Capital FM News on Thursday that the Commission had requested for more than Sh375 million for the 2013/2014 financial year noting that the bulk would be used in evaluating all public servants.

He added that the commission had met and expressed the same concerns to the Budget and Appropriations parliamentary committee hoping that they would be considered.

“The estimates that we had presented was more than Sh375 million and we hope that we will get the money that we wanted to have in our kitty because of the job evaluation exercise which is going to take more than Sh200 million,” he argued.

Chege however added that the commission would wait for the detailed budget figures that would be released on Friday, before coming up with a way forward.

Independent commissions had been threatened with a blanket 15 percent budgetary cut for supporting the SRC’s stance on MPs pay.

“That is when we will be able to know the full extent of the budget provided to us and know how it is going to affect us. Then we will sit down and see how we will balance the figures and carry on with our operations,” he said.

The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution had on Wednesday expressed similar concerns noting that the cuts would derail civic education.

It was not immediately clear how much each of the commissions had been given after the Budget was read on Thursday. The only mention indicated that Sh3.4 billion from the Consolidated Fund Services would go to the salaries and allowances of constitutional office holders.

“The Consolidated Fund Services comprise Sh110.2 billion for domestic interest payments, Sh11.2 billion for foreign interest payments, Sh38.2 billion for pensions, Sh3.4 billion for salaries and allowances of constitutional office holders,” National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said in his statement to the National Assembly.

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Chege had at the same time refuted claims by certain MPs indicating that the SRC had caved into pressure and agreed to give them the Sh851,000 they have been canvassing for.

He maintained that the only item that had been reviewed was the pension and a Sh5 million one-off car grant for MPs.

He added that it would be more expensive for the tax payers if the MPs each got a government vehicle and a chauffer to boot.

“We either had to give them a government driven vehicle or a car grant. A car grant worked much cheaper because the MPs will have to maintain the car and pay the allowances of their drivers as opposed to lamping all those responsibilities on the government,” he said.

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