Tourism stakeholders in Nakuru County have opposed plans by the government to review travel allowances and make them uniform in all towns and cities.
Opposing the move by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Nakuru Tourism Association chairperson David Kimani argued that harmonising per diems countrywide would be unfair as different regions have different costs of doing business.
Mr Mwangi said hoteliers in Nakuru and Naivasha had invested heavily in the Meetings Incentives and Conference Events (Mice) niche. The Mice model, he said, has become the fastest-growing aspect of tourism in the country accounting for 80 percent of the business.
“The growth of Mice business in Nakuru and Naivasha was sparked by its classification as a first-tier region before it was demoted to the second cluster. Harmonising per diems will hurt the region, “said Mr Mwangi.
According to the chairman, Nakuru had been categorised as both a cluster one (cities) and cluster two (county headquarters and Naivasha and Malindi) region, which have the capacity of hosting over 10,000 guests and will stand to suffer greatly should the new categorisation take effect.
Mr Kimani Gitau, a hotelier in Naivasha, said the strategic location of Nakuru County as a Mice destination was beginning to attract international conferences, whose benefits will trickle down to other sectors of the economy.
The SRC is proposing to scrap the current rates, which have been in place since 2017, and replace them with new ones that will only favour State officers travelling for official duty outside cities—Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru.
The SRC is seeking to increase travel allowances for State officers attending official duties in towns outside Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and Nakuru and make them equal to the four cities. State officers in grade F4 are currently paid Sh22,000 daily local travel allowance for trips to the four cities and Sh18,000 for trips to county headquarters, Malindi and Naivasha.
They receive Sh14,000 for travel to the rest of the towns. The flat rate for the top grade State officers and civil servants will be Sh22,000, a 57 percent rise from Sh14,000 for officials whose assignments have been in towns outside cities, county headquarters, Malindi and Naivasha.
The SRC is proposing a uniform approach for other job groups by introducing a flat rate that is equal to the maximum allowances earned by State officers on official travel to the four cities.
The proposals include a 40 percent increase in the minimum daily domestic travel allowance, raising it by Sh1,200 to match the Sh4,200 earned by civil servants in job groups A to E for assignments in cities.
Under the proposed changes, civil servants in job groups U to V and State officers in grades F1, F2, and E5 will have their travel allowances harmonised to Sh18,200. This will result in a 45.6 percent increase for officers in these grades with assignments in towns outside cities, county headquarters, Malindi, and Naivasha.
SRC is also seeking to standardise travel allowance rates at Sh16,800 for civil servants in job groups S to T and State officers in grades E3 and E4. This will result in a 60 percent increase for those who have been receiving the lowest allowances in this group.
Furthermore, civil servants in job groups P to R and State officers in grades E2, E1, and D5 will see their daily subsistence allowances rise from Sh8,400 to Sh14,000 for assignments in towns outside cities, county headquarters, and Malindi
Civil servants in job groups K to N and State officers in grade D4 will get a uniform rate of Sh11,200 for those on assignments outside cities.
The proposed harmonisation will be extended to civil servants in job groups F to J, where the travel allowances will be set at the cities’ rate of Sh6,300.
In the proposals, Nairobi-based civil servants in job group K will now receive a Sh16,500 house allowance per month up, from Sh10,000. Nairobi-based public officers in job group A — drivers, personal secretaries, cleaners and messengers — will receive Sh3,750 a month, up from Sh3,000. BY DAILY NTION