The National Treasury has announced that civil servants in Kenya will experience a delay in receiving their July salaries.
The delay is occasioned as the government implements a new payroll system. The setting up of the system follows an advisory from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The changes are part of the migration from the old manual Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) to the New Online Unified Human Resource (UHR) system.
As a result, the remittance of July 2023 salaries for all state workers will be affected.
In a memo circulated to civil servants, the Ministry of Public Service cited logistic challenges due to the migration process. This has now led to a delay in processing salaries for July.
The move to the UHR system is expected to improve payroll management. It is also expected to address issues such as ghost workers that have caused significant financial losses in the past.
The advisory from the IMF received support from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
SRC believes that the Unified Human Resource (UHR) system will enhance transparency. It also hopes the UHR will help in tracking national and county government salaries. This will in the long term be expected to close corruption loopholes.
The UHR system is a web-based platform that integrates all human resource (HR) data and processes for the public service, including payroll calculations, leave management, performance appraisals, and recruitment processes.
This delay in salary remittance is the second time government employees have faced such a situation.
In April 2023, a cash crunch led to unprecedented delays in salary payments, as the government prioritized other essential expenditures and debt obligations over civil servants’ salaries.
The delayed salaries could have implications for civil servants’ ability to meet their financial obligations, including house rents, statutory deductions like the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), as well as loan repayments to financial institutions and savings cooperatives (Saccos).
