Editor's Review

Prepare for huge salary cuts. This is the message civil servants will be hearing from the Kenyan government soon after details of a deal made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were made public.

Prepare for huge salary cuts. This is the message civil servants will be hearing from the Kenyan government soon after details of a deal made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were made public.

Some government workers will be facing a cut of up to 219% with the government set to limit allowances to 40% of public servants' wages.

This is part of a deal inked by the government and the IMF that saw Kenya receive Ksh 33.84 billion earlier in 2021 and another tranche of 43.86 billion a few weeks later. In turn, the government committed to lowering the civil servants' salaries that takes up close to 50% of the total wage bill.

President Uhuru Kenyatta / Photo Courtesy

The pay cuts are expected to come into effect in January 2022 ahead of the end of the financial year in June.

The government has also committed to a 4-year pay freeze that will see civil servants miss out on pay rises up to 2025.

The allowances that could be reduced including the per diem, medical, entertainment, calls, and utility. 

As part of the IMF deal, the monetary body will play a key role in the formulation of policies as Kenya seeks to tighten her belt financially.

The credit facility extended to the country will pump in a total of Sh258.65 billion into the government's purses as President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration appetite for loans continues unabated.