The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) has started implementing "pay and retention” policy for public servants to reduce salary disparity.

The policy, dubbed "Rwanda Public Sector Pay and Retention Policy and Implementation Strategy,” was developed in June 2012 and subsequently approved by the Cabinet.

The integrated and comprehensive policy seeks to address gaps in pay and retention of public employees to help the Government attain capable, competent and well-motivated civil and public servants required to achieve its objectives under Vision 2020, the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS II) as well as sustainable development agenda.

The proposed salary projections under the policy will improve teachers’ public wage bill share, which stood at 23.23 per cent in 2012, in comparison to their employment share of 62 per cent, and increase their wage bill share to 37.06 per cent.

They would also allow minimum fiscal space to start addressing wide gaps between salaries of public agencies and central ministries as a solution to the 18 per cent turnover – the number of workers that have left a workplace or industry and been replaced in a given period of time – in central ministries while bringing in more equity in the public sector pay structure.

The Director of Public Service Management at MIFOTRA, Alexis Ntagungira, told The New Times last week that the main purpose of the policy is to respect the principle governing compensation (of public employees) known as "equity.”

This principle, he said, means that if employees are doing the same work, they should definitely get the same pay.

"Secondly, this will help the Public Service and Labour ministry reduce turnover whereby some employees leave public institutions for other public institutions, especially to where the index value is higher (for example, 300 versus 400 or 300 versus 500),” he noted.

The index values are the statistical measurement based on while determining employees’ salaries; the higher the index, the bigger the salary.

This policy defines how public institutions whose index value is below 300 will be upgraded until they reach those with 500 index value. The point is that the public institutions with 500 index value will get little or no salary increment.

Implementation

Ntagungira said some public servants were at 300 index value, while others, such as teachers, had not yet been included in that salary payment system; but are now from last year, 2016.

In August 2016, the Cabinet decided that institutions with index value of 300 increase to 350 index value, equivalent to 16 per cent salary increment for public servants (‘normal’ employees and support staff).

It also approved that index value rise from 330 to 400 – representing 20 per cent of current salary – for the heads of division in concerned instructions.

The increment translated into additional Rwf3.3 billion to the public sector wage bill, then.

Ntagungira noted that it will be done progressively as the country gets more means. He explained that there were about 105 salary categories, for about 62,000 teachers, pointing out that as the categories decrease, it’s the one with higher salary which is considered.

Asked when the initiative is due for completion, he said it is "something that is continuous.” It will consist of annual pay adjustments to increase the pay and the medium term target to enhance the average net monthly compensation of public servants systematically in an affordable and sustainable wage bill.

All categories from the institutions with less than 300 index values are included in this plan, teachers inclusive.

Speaking to The New Times, Faustin Harelimana, the secretary-general of National Union of Teachers in Rwanda (SNER), reiterated that for a teacher to meet their basic necessities, they need at least Rwf80,000 as individual minimum wage per month.

"We would like to see salaries for teachers increased because their current pay is low and does not match the standard of living,” he said.

A freshly recruited certificate holder teacher (A2 primary school teacher) earns Rwf44,000 per month, a diploma holder (A1) Rwf90,000, while a graduate (A0) earns Rwf120,000.

Rwanda’s public sector employs approximately 104,000 people (including about 62,000 teachers), according to information from MIFOTRA.

In 2016/2017 financial year, wages and salaries expenditure on public servants amounted to about Rwf258 billion, representing 3.8 per cent of Rwanda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while some Rwf301 billion – also accounting 3.8 per cent of the GDP – is expected to be spent on public wages this financial year (2017/18), according to figures from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

It states that the increase in wages and salaries by Rwf40.4 billion results from the implementation of the new teachers’ statute, new government agencies as well as ongoing restructuring (in public institutions).

editorial@newtimes.co.rw