The decision to review downwards hefty pay and perks to top State officers by the Remuneration Commission’s (SRC) has seen The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) supporting it and actually lauding it as a great idea.The accountants' body says the move by the Sarah Serem-led commission is a step in the right direction as it addresses Kenya's spiralling public wage bill.“As the government implements the SRC's new structure, we must resist any attempt by State officers to water down the new salary structure, ICPAK national chairman Julius Mwatu said, adding it is time to disabuse the public of the notion that public office is a route to ill-gotten wealth.He was speaking at the Annual Management Accounting Conference in Mombasa Thursday.Kenya's public wage bill ate up approximately 52 per cent of recurrent expenditure against the global best practise level of 35 per cent Mr Mwatu noted.“The Country is almost operating at an inverse condition where recurrent expenditure account for 70 per cent of the national budget against 30 per cent development expenditure,” he added.In addition Mr Mwatu said that retention of qualified accountants in the civil service remains a big challenge as their high turnover hampers the State's service delivery.He however noted that the government has tried to address the issue by introducing scheme of service and non-practising allowances for professional cadres such as doctors, dentists and advocates who are engaged on a full time basis as employees of government and its agencies.The desire to engage professionals in service delivery he added actually led to the introduction of allowances. “However, it is unfortunate that professional accountants do not receive this allowance yet they forego practising rights on account of full time engagement in public service,” he lamented. “We are of the view that compensation for the non-practising should be a global allowance payable to all professionals,” he added.

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