- The details were contained in a letter by the Head of Civil Service Felix Koskei to treasury principal secretary Chris Kiptoo and his public service counterpart Amos Gathecha dated July 25.
- President William Ruto has already announced prisons and other members of security will get a pay rise from this month.
Image: NPS/X
Details have emerged on what police officers will get as a pay rise starting July 1.
The details were contained in a letter by the Head of Civil Service Felix Koskei to treasury principal secretary Chris Kiptoo and his public service counterpart Amos Gathecha dated July 25.
President William Ruto has already announced prisons and other members of security will get a pay rise from this month.
Ruto 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," 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.
This means apart from prisons and police, the National Youth Service are also expecting a salary increment which will see more than 150,000 personnel get a pay rise.
In his letter, Koskei said the proposed salary review for uniformed officers arises from the recommendations of the National Taskforce on Improvement of the Terms and Conditions of Service and other reforms for Members of the National Police Service and the Kenya Prisons Service.
He said Sh1.3 billion had been allocated for the police salary increment.
“In that regard, you are notified that His Excellency the President has been apprised of various proposals regarding the implementation of the proposed review of the remuneration and benefits for the National Police Service Uniformed Officers and has observed that the resources allocated for the review of the salary structure for the National Police Service for YF 2024/25 amount to Sh1,317,158,649.00," Koskei said.
Koskei said Ruto had directed that all the uniformed officers from the lowest rank (constable) receive a minimum monthly salary increase of Sh4,000.
There are 74,000 police constables in the current police count.
“Note that on account of the number of police constables who stand at 74,000, the National Police Service would require the appropriation of additional resources to effectively carry out the comprehensive review of remuneration and benefits as instructed,” the letter said.
The president directed the National Treasury to liaise with the National Police Service (NPS) jointly with the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) to avail the requisite resources to secure the full implementation of the directive.
He also directed that the salary increase be effected from July 1, 2024, and the State Department for Public Service liaise with the National Treasury and the National Police Service to ensure the salary increase is duly effected as part of the July 2024 payroll.
“Directed the National Treasury and the Ministry of Public Service to take appropriate action. Please proceed and take appropriate action as directed.”
The salary increment for the police and others was one of the pledges Ruto made during and after the campaigns.
Members of Parliament on Wednesday, July 24 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 for three years.
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 constable at Sh21,645.
This means the new salary for a new constable will be Sh25,000.
Long-serving police constables’ pay will be set at Sh44,354.
In the last increase, long-serving sergeants got a boost to Sh55,049.
It is not clear what the other ranks will get from the latest directive by the president.
Relevant agencies were working on the figures to reflect in the latest payroll.
A corporal currently earns Sh26,500.
A recently promoted sergeant officer takes home Sh38,829 whereas a long serving in the same rank earns Sh55,049.
A recently promoted senior sergeant police officer gets Sh41,649 while a senior officer in the same rank gets Sh60,449.
A senior officer in the rank of an Inspector of Police (IP) earns Sh64,379 while the lowest but the same rank gets Sh 44,369.
Similarly, a chief inspector gets Sh71,789.
Junior officers in the same rank earn Sh49,769.
Those in the rank of Assistant Inspector general of police, on their part, are set to earn Sh218, 269 while a commissioner of police which is held by a county police commander will receive Sh156, 229 with the lowest in the same rank getting Sh106, 929 in the new pay.
A Senior Assistant Inspector General which is the third highest rank in the service gets a Sh298,529 basic salary while a new entrant in the same rank gets Sh200,889.
But even as the President exuded confidence in rolling out the salary upgrades, there will be no new officers joining the ranks soon.
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 and women.
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.
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 task force 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.