Nairobi — The Government will release Sh3.5 billion in July for the harmonisation of civil servants' salaries, Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno has announced.

The money will be spent in a banding system adopted by the Public Service Remuneration Review Board to ensure equitable pay for all civil servants.

Although the minister did not announce the percentage pay rise for the lower cadre of employees to be affected, the release of the funds translates into a pay increase for civil servants in job groups A to M.

"The release of these funds will address inequality in remuneration within the civil service," he told members of the board when he officially opened their retreat at the Nyali Beach Hotel on Wednesday.

The package is part of the Sh15.3 billion that was recommended to the Treasury for harmonisation of salaries in the public service after recommendations by the Remuneration Review Board in 2003.

Of the money, over Sh10 billion had been released, which the minister regretted had only benefited top civil servants and the Judiciary, thus increasing inequalities in the civil service.

He noted that the phased approach that had been adopted was not the best because the lower cadre employees are the last to benefit yet they are the face of the Government.

Exemplary work

The minister commended the board for its exemplary work and said that the process for its entrenchment into the Constitution would be fast-tracked.

The board's chairman, Mr Gaylord Avedi, said the board would recommend that the retirement age for civil servants be raised to 60 "because at 55, most people were still productive."