Principal Secretary - State Department for Public Service and Human Capital Development Dr. Jane Kere Imbunya/FILEDisparities have emerged as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Judiciary and the Civil Service, county governments and state corporations list varying hardship areas.
A report of the Ministry of Public Service, Human Capital Development and Special Programmes submitted to the National Assembly’s Committee on Implementation noted that the Civil Service has designated 16, TSC (44) and Judiciary (21) as hardship areas.
“In cognisance of the existing disparities in designated hardship areas in the Public Service and to promote fairness and parity of treatment among public officers, the Government, through the Ministry responsible for Public Service, constituted an Inter-Agency Technical Committee to undertake a study and review designated hardship areas,” Principal Secretary Jane Imbunya said in the report.
The Committee comprised of representatives from the then Ministry of Public Service and Gender, Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government, Ministry of Education.
The National Treasury and Planning, the Judiciary, Public Service Commission, Teachers Service Commission, Salaries and Remuneration Commission, Commission on Revenue Allocation, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Council of Governors.
Imbunya told the committee that the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) identified and weighted seven parameters to guide the determination and re-categorisation of hardship areas.
She said the parameters were food, water, transport and communication services, social services, climate and terrain, security and poverty index.
She noted that the Inter-Agency Technical Committee undertook a wide stakeholder engagement in carrying out the study.
She added that some of the stakeholders' engagement by the Committee was face-to-face interviews with officers from the Ministry of Interior and Co-ordination of National Government, County Directors of Education, TSC, County Directors, County Statistics Officers, National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), county governments and union representatives.
Imbunya said findings showed there are areas currently
designated as hardship or petitioned by stakeholders to be categorised as
'hardship', but upon review, they were found not to be 'hardship'.
She further noted that not all public officers working in hardship areas are currently paid hardship allowance.
“This is due to disparities in the current policy guidelines on designated hardship areas in the Public Service.”
Imbunya added that some areas that were previously designated as hardship and have acquired a different status following the implementation of the devolved system of governance and improved socio-economic development across the country.
She said the report on the review of the designated hardship areas in the Public Service is currently awaiting Cabinet consideration.
