NAIROBI, Kenya, July 7 – The High Court has quashed the Salaries and Remuneration Commission’s (SRC) decision setting the remuneration and benefits of Kenya’s ambassadors, high commissioners and diplomatic representatives, ruling that the process violated the Constitution.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye found that the SRC failed to conduct meaningful public participation before approving the remuneration package and unlawfully failed to properly determine the Foreign Service Allowance.
The court declared unconstitutional the SRC’s decision made on March 29, 2024 and communicated to the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs through a letter dated May 24, 2024.
The petition was filed by Eliud Karanja Matindi, who argued that the commission set the remuneration and benefits without public participation and improperly referred to “current rates” for the Foreign Service Allowance without disclosing how those rates had been determined.
In its judgment, the court held that the public participation exercise relied upon by SRC was conducted before the job evaluation for the diplomatic positions and therefore could not satisfy the constitutional requirement for meaningful public participation on the specific remuneration package eventually approved.
The judge also found that while there was no evidence of formal delegation of SRC’s constitutional mandate, the commission failed to properly discharge its responsibility by referring to unspecified “current rates” for the Foreign Service Allowance without demonstrating that it had itself determined those rates.
The court, however, rejected the petitioner’s argument that the remuneration package was invalid simply because it had not been published in the Kenya Gazette, holding that neither the Constitution nor the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Act makes gazettement a mandatory requirement for such decisions.
Although it quashed the remuneration decision, the court suspended the effect of its orders for 190 days to allow the SRC to conduct fresh public participation and lawfully determine the remuneration and benefits.
During the transition period, the existing remuneration and benefits will continue to be paid to avoid disruption of Kenya’s foreign missions, but the SRC must specifically determine the Foreign Service Allowance instead of relying on unspecified rates.
