KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah has criticised the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) over its decision to halt revised pay and benefits for county governments, saying the move has created unequal treatment for workers employed by counties.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Wednesday, Atellah said county employees had expected the new remuneration structures to take effect alongside salary adjustments covering workers in the national government. He said public servants should not receive different treatment based on the level of government where they work.
“We feel like it’s a discrimination,” Atellah said, arguing that wage reviews across the public service should be implemented on the basis of “equality” and “equity”.
“So it’s something that we have to push back because in the implementation of wages, that has to be equality or that has to be equity,” he said.
Atellah was reacting to an SRC decision communicated to the Council of Governors on September 11, in which the commission announced the immediate suspension of the implementation of revised remuneration and benefits structures for county governments.
The commission said the decision was reached after consultations with the Council of Governors and was linked to concerns about the ability of counties to meet their wage bills while maintaining financial stability.
According to SRC, most county governments have a wage bill-to-ordinary-revenue ratio of above 35 per cent. It warned that putting the revised remuneration structures into effect under the current financial conditions would have major implications for county governments.
The suspension affects three remuneration structures covering State officers in county executives, members of county public service boards, as well as county secretaries and county attorneys.
SRC said the suspension would remain in force as it holds further discussions with the Council of Governors, the Commission on Revenue Allocation and the National Treasury.
Atellah said the salary dispute also reflected broader difficulties in putting into effect collective bargaining agreements and other pay adjustments affecting health workers.
He said the 2017 doctors’ collective bargaining agreement was now being implemented in full for the first time, resulting in salary increases of up to 50 per cent of basic pay for some doctors.
“The doctors’ CBA of 2017 is the first CBA ever signed, and now will be the first one to be fully implemented,” he said.
He said arrears owed under the agreement had also been settled in two instalments made in December 2024 and 2025.
Despite the progress, Atellah said implementation across counties remained uneven, with some health workers continuing to experience salary delays and strikes.
He said the implementation of the doctors’ CBA should not take attention away from the difficulties still facing county employees, including the latest decision by SRC to suspend the revised salary structures.
“This does not mean that every county has conformed,” Atellah said, calling for equal treatment in the implementation of wages across the public service.