Government cuts top officials’ salary budget by Sh600 million after audit flags overestimation
Between July 2024 and March 2025, the government spent Sh2.97 billion on salaries to state officers, a rise from Sh2.49 billion spent in a similar period the previous year.
The government has cut the salary allocation for top state officials by Sh600 million after the Controller of Budget flagged repeated overestimations in pay figures by the National Treasury.
The latest budget shows that the allocation for state officers’ salaries under the Consolidated Fund Services (CFS) has dropped from Sh4.74 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year to Sh4.14 billion in the 2024/2025 period.
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The CFS account is used to pay high-ranking officials, including the President, the deputy president, Cabinet secretaries, governors, Members of Parliament, Speakers of both the National Assembly and county assemblies, and the heads and commissioners of constitutional commissions and independent offices.
“The decline is attributed to implementing a recommendation by the Controller of Budget that budgeted salaries and allowances of the constitutional office holders be aligned to the gazetted remuneration by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission in previous budget implementation review reports,” Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said.
Revised downwards
In the budget presented in June 2023 for the current financial year, the National Treasury had initially allocated Sh4.21 billion to cater for state officers’ salaries, but the figure was later revised downwards to Sh4.14 billion.
This amount is Sh600 million lower than the previous year’s allocation of Sh4.74 billion, a drop that came after Nyakang’o raised concerns that the Treasury was budgeting up to three times the actual pay for some officials.
“When I was doing the budget for CFS, where I am paid from, I found out that my salary was budgeted at three times what I am paid. I am the only state officer in my institution, so there is nothing like confusion there. I asked, and I have not received the answer to date,” Nyakang’o told the National Dialogue Committee in November 2023.
All salaries for state officers are gazetted by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and are publicly available.
Between July 2024 and March 2025, the government spent Sh2.97 billion on salaries to state officers, a rise from Sh2.49 billion spent in a similar period the previous year.
Among institutions that received the largest allocations from the CFS were the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which got Sh2.3 billion, the Public Service Commission (PSC) with Sh90.9 million, and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), which received Sh76.1 million.
The Treasury released Sh12.9 million from the CFS account to pay the salaries of the president and the deputy president. A further Sh40.7 million was remitted as housing levy contributions for state officers, while Sh1.38 million was allocated for National Social Security Fund (NSSF) contributions.
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