Senator Cherargei Wants More Hardship Payments to Civil Servants
He argued that civil servants are supposed to be given good or better pay as their compensation of working in an unfavourable environment.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei. Photo/Peoples Daily.
By Janet Philip
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei has suggested an increment of hardship allowance not only to teacher but to all civil servants.
Deeply disagreeing with a government proposal to abolish hardship commissions among teachers, the senator said the step was necessary in order to protect marginalised regions against having undermined service delivery.
Speaking before the Senate, Cherargei urged that all civil servants be included in the scheme of the hardship allowance and designated hardship areas being expanded. He argued that civil servants are supposed to be given good or better pay as their compensation of working in an unfavourable environment.
The senator criticized a report by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who claimed that Kenya would be saving between Ksh6 billion in case the fund was abolished.
“Mr Speaker, this move doesn’t make sense. What will attract teachers and other civil servants to work in hardship areas like Garissa, Banisa, Todonyang, or Namanga? Mr Speaker, in fact, we should give more hardship allowances to not only teachers but all civil servants,” the senator questioned.
Cherargei suggests that hardship allowance is not a privilege at all but a necessity in attracting professionals to work in underserved and remote areas.
“We must disagree with any intention to remove hardship allowances for teachers. There is a reason we have 44 hardship zones,” the senator stated.
He also requested that additional areas be included in the list of the hardship areas. Cherargei suggested that the following regions in Nandi County be included in the criteria based on pronounced similarities to the already identified regions in terms of challenges like Terek, Chepterwa, Kapchorwa, Sopa, Songo, Chemelit, and Chemase.
The senator cautioned that the removal of hardship allowances would be against the current legal set ups which have legally unmarginalised certain areas according to Legal Notice No. 534 of 1998 and Legal Notice No. 196 of 2015, specific areas have been officially declared marginalised.
He also demanded that hardship allowance should be aligned to Equalisation Fund, which has given out Ksh16.8 billion to counties in 2025 financial year.
“You can’t build schools and hospitals without ensuring teachers and health workers are willing to serve there. Infrastructure must be matched with human resource development,” Cherargei explained.
He called upon the Finance and Budget Committee to revisit the standards multi-jurisdictional in determining hardship area and that all areas deserving the hardship areas must be covered.
He has also urged Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) to oppose any move to do away with hardship allowances and stay in Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) talks.
By Janet Philip
About Author
