KDF officers./FILEKenya Defence Forces has directed the locking of lunch allowance to military officers and channelling the same to the controversial Pay-As-You-Eat meals being rolled out.
In a memo seen by the Star, KDF officers will no longer access the meal allowance, which is part of their monthly benefits.
“Meal cash allowance be paid through DESACCO (Defence Savings and Credit Co-operatives Society) in order to deter service personnel from committing on loans,” the internal memo reads.
The Star has, however, established that many junior officers had committed the payslip in loans before the directive – meaning reduced take-home in the coming months as they service the debts.
In the memo, the cash will now be channelled to the PAYE lunch programme and the remainder transferred to their Sacco. However, officers get access to the remaining locked meals cash, if not fully used at the end of the month.
“Half of the allowance will be locked on the KDF Booking meal App which if not used can be released at the end of the month.”
The communication, military sources confide, was in response to a decision by a number of junior officers to go without meals following the rollout of the new system.
The officers see the move to lock the allowance in the meals app as an inducement to use the new lunch programme.
The allowance, ration cash allowance, was conferred to the military personnel in 2000 after the scrapping of the breakfast and dinner. KDF officers started paying for their lunch at the beginning of this month following the end of the subsidy programme on June 30.
In a circular dated June 23, the Army Headquarters directed units to demand Ration Scale Four for 14 days as seed capital for the transition.
“Please note that it is envisaged the proceeds of the Seed Capital will form a self-sustaining revolving fund to be administered by the PAYE management committees established at Fmn/Base/unit levels to oversee operation of the messing facilities,” read the memo signed by Brigadier EN Kitusya.
KDF noted, in an earlier memo, that the shift in the policy is necessitated by the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the former system.
“To ensure a seamless transition and effective implementation of the PAYE system, roll out a comprehensive sensitisation programme for all service personnel to enhance understanding of the PAYE system,” the memo reads.
Commanders have also been instructed to leverage existing messaging infrastructure to support the new programme, with any further needs to be addressed progressively into the 2025/26 financial year.
The PAYE system, according to the headquarters, marks a significant shift towards a more accountable and sustainable logistics model within the military.
This is however not the first time the government has tried to end the free meals to KDF officers with each push failing to take off. The new system is a product of a committee that had been looking into the transition since October last year.
The committee’s mandate was to develop and recommend modalities for the successful implementation strategy of the system following consultations with various stakeholders.
The panel submitted its recommendations to the Service Commanders Committee Meeting on October 29, 2024.
“A subsequent presentation on December 17, 2024 outlined the implementation strategy and timelines for the PAYE system, which were reviewed and deliberated,” the document in possession of the Star reads.
