MPs approve Sh3.5bn budget for police pay raise

Police officers are headed for a windfall following National Assembly’s approval of additional Sh3.5 billion budget to cater for their pay increase.

President William Ruto yesterday said the more than 150,000 personnel will get a pay rise.

The percentage of the pay rise will be announced later, officials say.

This is one of the pledges Ruto made to the police service.

MPs on Wednesday backed the recommendation of the Budget committee which provided the cash to enhance the wages.

“We recommend an increase of Sh3.5 billion to enhance wages for police officers,” the Budget and Appropriations Committee said in its report.

A task force chaired by former Chief Justice David Maraga last year recommended a pay rise for the police, prisons and NYS officers.

The National Police Service, Prisons Service and the National Youth Service officers were to get a 40 per cent salary increase.

The salary increment was to be implemented in phases over three years but faced financial hurdles - starting from the days of the Covid-19 outbreak.

After receiving the report, President William Ruto directed the Salaries Remuneration Commission to enforce the adjustments.

However, the adjustments were yet to be effected for lack of budget.

It remains to be seen how many officers would benefit as the Maraga recommendations required Sh15 billion to implement.

Yesterday, the president reaffirmed the government’s commitment to effecting the salary increase for police and prison personnel this month.

"In line with the commitment I made to our men in uniform, from this month we will be living up to our commitment to enhance the salaries of our policemen and prison officers," President Ruto said.

"Starting this month they will receive the first instalment of their increment in salaries,” he stated at State House during the swearing-in ceremony for the newly appointed Prisons Service Commissioner General.

But even as the President exuded confidence in rolling out the salary upgrades, there will be no new officers joining the ranks soon.

Budget cuts instigated by the failed Finance Bill, 2024, saw the planned recruitment halted indefinitely.

An allocation of Sh3.2 billion which the Internal Security Committee of the National Assembly okayed has been shelved by the Budget team.

The budget committee slashed the amount which was meant to list about 2,800 police recruits from an initial target of 5,000 this fiscal year.

NPS bosses recently told MPs they needed Sh5 billion to successfully list the freshmen.

The services are said to be suffering personnel shortages, forcing them to seek reinforcements on an as-needed basis, occasioning more costs in moving the officers.

Last August, the National Police Service Commission rolled out the third remuneration review cycle for staff for the year 2021-2025.

The review put the monthly salary of a newly recruited constables at Sh21,645.

Based on their ranks and years in service, the officers got an increase in salary of between Sh1,255 to Sh9,439.

Long-serving police constables had their pay set at Sh40,354 while long-serving sergeants got a boost to Sh55,049 from the initial Sh53,570.

Among concerns in the Maraga report was the slow pace at which retiring officers were being replaced.

It is established that more than 1,000 police officers exit the service for various reasons including death, retirement or sackings.

From the taskforce recommendations, the service had intended to recruit about 10,000 officers in the next two financial years, starting with 5,000 this year.

In its report, the Budget committee had recommended that instead of 5,000, the service would list 2,862 new officers.

But in the motion presented at the plenary, the Ndindi Nyoro-led team deducted the Sh3.2 billion that was to cater to the recruitment.

The pay rise has come at a time when the SRC has frozen any upward review of salaries for all state officers.

SRC boss Lyn Mengich said the move was taking into account the current realities of the economy.