- The report says Kenyans registered their concern regarding the financial burden of the growing public wage bill.
- It wants the membership of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission restructured to make it lean and effective.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Constitutional commissions should be changed to reduce the financial burden on Kenyans and improve efficiency, according to the Building Bridges Initiative report.
The document, which was handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Handshake partner Raila Odinga on Wednesday, says Kenyans registered their concerns regarding the burden they have to bear to sustain the commissions.
“They, therefore, called for mechanisms to reduce wage bills, specifically with regard to commissions,” the report says.
It says that stakeholders submitted that some commissions have similar or closely related mandates and should be harmonised.
The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2020 proposed amendments to restructure the membership of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to make it lean and effective.
It further proposed to entrench the mandate of the commission in law to set, review, rationalise and harmonise the remuneration of all state and public officers.
“Further, the commission shall determine and harmonise the rates paid by national and county governments to professional consultants for services rendered,” the report says.
The SRC has one of the largest memberships of commissioners drawn from a wide spectrum of stakeholder representatives.
It has the chairperson and members representing the Public Service Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Teachers Service Commission, the Defence Council, Central Organisation of Trade Unions, employers and the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa.
The others are the Parliamentary Service Commission, the Senate, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and the Attorney-General
The report proposes that the National Police Service Commission be done away with and replaced with the Kenya Police Council, which will be responsible for the overall policy coordination of the National Police Service.
It also wants the elevation of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority into a commission. Ipoa was established under an Act of Parliament.
“The commission is expected to provide an effective mechanism of oversight on the conduct of the members of the Police Service in discharging their work and their relation to the citizens,” according to the report.
Further, it proposes to amend the functions of the Judicial Service Commission to provide a mechanism to enable it to discipline judicial officers, including judges.
The Bill calls for the establishment of the office of the judiciary ombudsman to be responsible for handling complaints on the judicial process from the public.
- mwaniki fm