President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Kenyatta National Hospital on Thursday. (Photo/PSCU)
Sentiments by the Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga, who is a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission that MPs will fight the new SRC salary structure has continued to receive mixed reactions.
The new move by SRC has cut mileage allowances and scrapped the legislator’s car grant.
According to SRC, this move is a way of solving the huge wage bill in the country.
What the MPs fail to understand is that the wage bill of the country has been huge leading to fewer funds channeling to development.
During his State of the Nation address on March 15th, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the Wage Bill was a threat to the Nation’s Development agenda.
While revealing that he had received a report from the SRC over the same, the Head of State said one of the recommendations was to review salaries for all the Public servants a recommendation that he welcomed.
“The wage Bill issue has continued to threaten our development agenda. Let me, however, inform you that earlier today I received a report from the SRC recommending the rationalization of salaries of all the civil servants and I welcome the move” said the President.
The head of state took the moment to appeal to all the politicians to accept the recommendations saying leadership is about servant leadership and not becoming rich through the leadership.
The Head of State added that the review of the salaries of all the civil servants would ensure that the doctors, as well as police, also enjoy the compensation for the good job they do for the nation and solve the public wage bill which stands at Sh627 billion per year.
“I personally support the SRC recommendations and call upon all of us to accept the recommendations as they are. We should always remember that the calling of leadership is to serve not to become rich through serving,” the President said.
Sticking to his word five months down the line, President Uhuru Kenyatta has asked newly elected Members of Parliament to drop their threat to pass a law to award themselves higher salaries.
The President said the MPs, who won seats in the August 8 elections, should drop their threat to amend the decision by the Salaries and Remunerations Commission which slashed salaries of public officers in order to bring equity in the public sector.
The head of state was speaking at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Karen, where he said it was shameful that the MPs were showing greed even before they are sworn in.
“Be careful because that is the reason why many MPs lost their seats in the election. I swear I shall not sign that law. We should understand that we are called to serve the people, not to earn from them,” said the President.
He called on MPs to respect them if they want to continue being called honorable.