A parliamentary watchdog committee is set to summon the National Treasury to explain why thousands of civil servants are taking home less than a third of their salaries, in breach of labour laws that protect workers from excessive deductions.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, says the rising number of government employees earning below the legal limit is largely due to increased deductions introduced under President William Ruto’s administration.
These include the Affordable Housing Levy, Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), and higher NSSF contributions.
“The law is no longer practical due to multiple tax deductions that have eaten into workers’ pay,” said Mwale, referring to Section 19(3) of the Employment Act, 2007, which states that no more than two-thirds of an employee’s salary should be deducted.
Civil servants are now having 1.5% of their gross pay deducted for the Housing Levy, 2.75% for SHIF, and more for NSSF under the new rates. As a result, many are left with less than one-third of their income after mandatory deductions.
The issue came up during a PAC session with Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco, who was responding to audit queries. The committee heard that more than 4,000 government officers, as of June 2023, were earning below the legal minimum, a violation of both the Employment Act and the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service.
Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera urged immediate action, saying, “Unless addressed, this issue will keep appearing in audit reports. We have asked the Treasury to work with the Attorney General to determine whether the one-third rule should be scrapped or revised.”
Funyula MP Dr. Wilberforce Oundo defended the affected workers, blaming Parliament for approving the new taxes without fully considering their impact. “These employees are not at fault. Parliament passed these punitive laws. If anyone is to blame, it’s us MPs who said ‘Hallelujah’ as the bills went through,” he said.
