In Summary
Graduate and disabled officers have started resigning from their
positions after the National Police Service Commission reduced their
salaries by as much as half last week.
Officers who have already received their March salaries — paid through the Kenya Police Sacco — told the Nation on Sunday that their take-home pay had significantly been reduced, in some cases by up to Sh26,000.
The
adjustments, which have mainly affected graduate police officers and
those disabled in the line of duty, were effected this month despite a
court order directing the government not to implement the reviews by the
NPSC.
NEGATIVE PAY
The law exempts the disabled from paying taxes for monthly earnings of Sh150,000 and below.
Mobile
phone salary notifications of a number of law enforcement officers show
that some would earn as low as Sh20 this month while others would get
nothing.
The notifications, sent by the Police Sacco
since Friday, have infuriated the officers, some of whom have drafted
resignation letters.
SACCO LOAN
“I
earned negative Sh15,000 this month,” said an officer, whom we cannot
name because of the sensitivity of the matter, but whose salary
notification we reproduce.
“If I continue working here, I will keep earning zero.”
The
officer, who has since tendered his resignation, said he had taken a
loan from the sacco based on the consideration that he would be able to
pay it every month.
SURRENDER
“It
is not fair for them to reduce our salaries without even giving us
notices,” he said, demanding to know how the NPSC expected the affected
officers to settle their bills.
To make matters worse,
he had to borrow money to finance his resignation as police standing
orders require that an officer quitting the force surrenders a month’s
salary and issues a 24-hour notice.
Alternatively, one may serve a three-month notice, which most of the officers are trying to avoid.
SHAMEFUL
Only those who have served for 12 years are eligible for terminal benefits.
A
dismayed officer said he wondered why the NPSC had gone against the
stipulations of the International Labour Organisation, which bars
downward review of salaries.
“We already are living in
deplorable conditions and working in very risky circumstances but our
employer is taking from us the little we get. It is shameful,” he said.
COTU STAND
The
Central Organisation of Trade Unions Kenya said the reduction in pay
went against the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 95 on
protection of wages.
“Under the country’s labour laws,
one's pay cannot be reduced without discussions between the worker and
the employer,” Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli said on Sunday.
“This unilateral decision is unfair.”
LEGAL FEES
On
Sunday, a group of affected officers met at a Nairobi hotel to discuss
the way forward and contribute money towards legal fees as they intend
to sue the National Police Service.
Since 1995, when
Parliament passed a motion to enhance the salaries of police officers,
graduates have enjoyed better starting pay than non-graduates.
REVIEW
The
review was implemented by the then Internal Security minister Jackson
Kalweo, who directed that graduates should earn like their peers in the
civil service for two years after which they should be promoted.
Since
then, a graduate joining the force at the lowest rank of Constable is
placed at Job Group J, earning a basic monthly salary of Sh36,000 and a
prison and police allowance of Sh11,000.
NEPOTISM
However, lawyers, engineers and doctors in the force are graded higher.
That
changed last week when Vigilance House implemented the amendments
advised by NPSC chief executive officer Joseph Onyango, slashing the
salary of a graduate constable to Sh18,000 and the allowance to Sh9,000.
Graduate officers are also complaining that
promotions based on their academic qualifications are not being
implemented as senior officers favour their relatives.
INTERVIEWS
Promotions in the service are, however, not automatic as one has to sit interviews, known within the force as boards.
“This
is the only institution where a Standard Eight dropout, a Form Four
leaver who scored a D- in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
examination, an undergraduate and postgraduate get the same pay,” a
police officer told the Nation on Sunday.
Before
the implementation of the adjustments — which also included the
imposing of taxes on disabled officers — graduate constables earned a
basic salary equal to that of a non-graduate inspector, only that the
inspectors earned higher allowances because of their rank.
DEFENDED
NPS
spokesperson Charles Owino defended the adjustments, saying they should
not be seen as a ploy to downgrade the officers "since the upward
review was an anomaly in the first place".
“The NPSC acted within the law,” Mr Owino said, adding that officers would earn salaries that are equivalent to their ranks.
"For instance," he said, "there is no legal authority to pay corporals a salary equivalent to that of an inspector."
In
recent years, graduates have routinely been promoted from constable
directly to Inspector after just three years of service, jumping the
ranks of corporal, sergeant and senior sergeant.
SPECIALISTS
In
February, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the government
was planning to introduce courses for specialists to join the service
as assistant superintendents.
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