Kenyan government workers received Sh795.4 million in performance-based bonuses during the six months leading to December 2023.

This incentive scheme, implemented by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) in April 2023, aimed to motivate public servants and enhance service delivery.

However, these bonuses, along with Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) and allowances, are projected to significantly inflate the public sector wage bill.

By the end of June 2024, the wage bill is expected to reach Sh1.17 trillion.

The SRC announced that public institutions needed to achieve at least 101 per cent of their annual performance targets to qualify for the bonuses.

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While the commission approved Sh815.57 million in bonus requests, this only represented 49.8 per cent of the total Sh1.64 billion requested by various public service institutions during the quarter ending December 2023.

It remains unclear whether these bonuses were distributed across all ministries, counties, and parastatals.

This bonus scheme comes amidst ongoing calls from government workers for increased salaries.

However, these demands clash with the government's efforts to control the ballooning wage bill as fiscal space tightens.

The public sector wage bill has grown considerably since 2017, rising from Sh670.7 billion for a workforce of 833,100 to Sh1.17 trillion for a workforce of 953,041 by the end of 2023.

The introduction of performance-based bonuses offers a potential solution to motivate public servants and improve service delivery.

However, balancing this incentive with managing the overall wage bill remains a critical challenge for the government.