Why Maraga team wants cops, prisons, KDF pay harmonised

A government report has recommended urgent review of the pay for police and prisons officers to be in harmony with that of KDF officers of similar ranks.

The task force headed by former Chief Justice David Maraga found the current salary arrangement has discrepancies across the security sector.

Although National Police Service, Kenya Prisons Service and National Youth Service officers of certain ranks have similar entry requirements, training regimen and ranking to those in the Kenya Defence Forces, their pay differs.  

The Maraga panel was tasked to review the terms of service and working conditions of security professionals in the National Police Service, Kenya Prison Service and the NYS.

It says review to harmonise pay should be urgent to ensure that the law enforcement sector’s morale is boosted and that staff are treated with respect.

The rationale for this, it says, is that officers in the NPS, KPS and NYS services are currently paid in line with broader public service criterion, making their terms fall below those of KDF.

The task force compared the basic salary structures of KDF, NPS and KPS and found that average earnings for members of KDF were higher on the minimum basic salary, while members of NPS, KPS and NYS had higher maximum basic salary.

“The task force observed that minimum basic salary scale rates for members of KDF are generally 20 to 40 per cent higher than those of members of NPS, KPS and NYS for similar lower ranks or equivalent job group, and generally eight to 10 per cent more for higher ranks or equivalent job group,” the report says.

“Some of the grades in KDF under comparison with NPS, KPS and NYS have relatively short salary structures, meaning that officers must progress within a very short period otherwise they would stagnate should they not get promoted.”

The panel noted that pay review and increases for members of NPS, KPS and NYS have been closely linked to annual basic salary movement and incremental notches designed for the wider public service sector or civil service job groups and not for KDF or disciplined services pay grades.

As a result, the report says, “NPS, KPS and NYS remuneration, or average earnings, do not take into account all aspects of changes in remuneration for disciplined services. Since 2012, remuneration and review for members of NPS, KPS and NYS have not broadly kept pace with that of members of KDF.”

However, the task force found that police, prisons and NYS officers have some higher allowances than their KDF counterparts like housing, which is higher for the three services than in the military. The officers from the three services also get commuter allowance, which soldiers of equivalent rank don’t get.

The report says an analysis of the house allowances paid to the disciplined services compared to the KDF shows that police, prisons and NYS officers earn a higher rate of Sh45,000 compared to KDF, who draw Sh36,000 at equivalent grades.

“All officers at this level earn a monthly commuter allowance of Sh12,000, which is uniform across all the services, except KDF members who do not draw this allowance. Hardship allowance is also paid at a standard rate of Sh27,300. However, the privates in NYS and the KDF do not earn the allowance. Leave allowance is paid annually at Sh10,000 to officers in this grade across all the services, except for the KDF, whose earning ranges from Sh25,000 to Sh45,000,” the document says.

The panel sampled some job groups for analysis to get the broader picture.

For example, for Job Group F, although there is not much disparity between the range for renumeration for the three services and KDF, the officers are mostly paid on minimum scale, hence disadvantaging them compared to their KDF counterparts.

“Under the Civil Service Job Group Remuneration System, pay for a police constable, a prisons constable, an NYS private, and a KDF private is determined by Job Group F. Yet a private with the KDF has a minimum basic salary of Sh33,193 and a maximum of Sh34,772 compared to the minimum basic salary for a constable of police at Sh20,390 and a maximum of Sh38,975,” the report reads.

“...the minimum basic salary for a constable of prisons is Sh20,740 and the maximum is Sh38,980, while the minimum basic salary for a private in NYS is Sh18,730 and a maximum of Sh30,420.”

It adds: “This indicates that a private with KDF earns a higher minimum basic salary than the constable at KPS, who in turn earns a slightly higher minimum basic salary than the constable at NPS and the private at NYS. The maximum basic salaries for constables at NPS and KPS are higher than those for the private at the KDF.”

For Job Group P, the panel found various discrepancies across NPS, KPS, NYS and KDF hence the need for a review.

Under the Civil Service Job Group Remuneration System, remuneration for commissioner of police, deputy commissioner of prisons, a deputy director NYS, and warrant officer 1 is placed at Job Group P.

“Yet the minimum basic salary for a commissioner of police is Sh103,360 and a maximum of Sh144,090, the minimum basic salary for a deputy commissioner of prisons is Sh78,510 and a maximum of Sh138,910. The minimum basic salary for a deputy director in NYS is Sh87,360 and a maximum of Sh121,430. In KDF, warrant officer 1 [who is in equivalent job group] has a minimum basic salary of Sh81,216 with a maximum of Sh84,415.”

“This indicates that the commissioner of police at NPS earns a higher minimum and maximum basic salary than the deputy commissioner of prisons, who in turn earns a higher salary than the deputy director at NYS even though all of them are Job Group P equivalents. The warrant officer 1 at KDF has the least basic salary maximum at Job Group P equivalent grade,” the report says.