• Roba said the move is to complement to the goodwill gesture by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his appeal for voluntary pay cuts.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Mandera Governor Ali Roba and his deputy Mohamed Arai have announced a plan to take a 30 per cent salary cut as Covid-19 continues to hit on the economy.
Roba said the move is to complement to the goodwill gesture by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his appeal for voluntary pay cuts.
He said the salary cuts will be effected starting April 1 till June 31.
"Mandera county government met today and has approved a 20 per cent salary cut for staff in job group T, 15 per cent for those in group S and 10 per cent cut for those in group R," Roba said in a statement to newsrooms.
He said all staff in other cadres have been advised to sign voluntary contribution from their basic salaries.
"I appeal to the county assembly and private sector within the county to implement the same in the spirit of collective approach to the challenges at hand," Roba said.
While announcing targeted interventions to cushion Kenyans from the shocks of the current Covid-19 crisis on the economy, Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto announced they will take an 80% pay cut.
“My government has offered a voluntary salary reduction to senior government officials,” Uhuru said.
Cabinet Secretaries will take a 30 per cent pay cut, as will Chief Administrative Secretaries.
Uhuru has also directed the Treasury to offer 100 per cent tax relief for persons earning a gross income of Sh24000.
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax will also be reduced from the highest amount of 30 per cent to 25.
"There will be a reduction of the income tax rate from its maximum of 30 to 25 per cent," he said.
A day later, Speakers Ken Lusaka and Justin Muturi, announced they would give away 30 per cent of their salaries for the next three months towards the coronavirus emergency response.
Governor Roba said the county's interventions to prevent the Covid-19 spread will be structured in a phased comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to be implemented through committees headed by senior county officials chaired by the deputy governor.
He said the Mandera County Referral Hospital has been designated as an isolation and county response center.
"Because of the population of Mandera town and efforts to address capacity challenges, we have activated a 14-bed isolation ward at the Mandera Referral Hospital, a 64-bed ward at rehabilitation centre at CBD and a 47=bed isolation centre at the new Kamor Hospital," Roba said.
He said the entry control point at Kotulo has been converted into an isolation ward and response centre.
"It has been decided that Mandera county government relevant departments plan for three months targeted relief food distribution to the most vulnerable," the governor said.