Anne Rwamba Gitau has ended her 13-year tenure as the longest-serving senior official of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), following her exit on Monday last week.
Dr Gitau became the first chief executive officer-cum-secretary of the SRC following its inception in July 2011, placing her at the centre of one of the country’s most contentious affairs; the setting of salaries and allowances for public servants.
From court petitions seeking to reverse SRC’s decision on benefits and salaries in the public service, to threats by Parliament to cut its budget, Dr Gitau has seen it all at the helm of the SRC. She has been replaced by Margaret Njoka, the Director of Corporate Services, in an acting capacity until a substantive Commission Secretary/CEO is recruited.
Interestingly, part of her last official assignments touched on Members of Parliament— one of the powerful entities that had severally threatened to chop the budget of SRC in response to reduced allowances.
SRC in March this year, wrote to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) communicating the new rate of mileage allowances for the lawmakers.
“This letter supersedes any other review and setting of mileage allowance and claimable mileage allowance for Members of Parliament," Dr Gitau said in the letter to MPs in March this year.
All MPs in the National Assembly and the Senate are entitled to a mileage allowance of Sh366,011, effective April 1, 2025, as per the letter by Dr Gitau.
Previously, MPs claimed the mileage based on the distance covered from Parliament to their constituencies. With the new resolutions, the lawmakers will receive the fixed mileage allowance and an additional mileage allowance based on the distance of their constituency.
Unlike past circulars, MPs did not threaten to hit back even after the SRC limited the amounts they could get as compensation for travelling to and from their constituencies.
“The commission expresses its deep appreciation and gratitude to Dr Gitau for her commitment and dedicated service to SRC and to the people of Kenya, and wishes her the very best in her future endeavours”, SRC said in a statement last week.
Dr Gitau has in the past drawn the ire of governors, over collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) for employees at the devolved units.
In 2017, Dr Gitau hit out at governors accusing them of dragging their feet and derailing efforts to end industrial action by county employees over the implementation of CBAs.
“We have not received a workable document from the governors. Several times we have written to them, requesting information as per procedure. As you are aware the commission works with employers, we do not engage the unions,” Dr Gitau said in a media interview in January 2017, during one of the few occasions when she took media interviews over issues in her role as the CEO of SRC.
For the 13 years she has been at the helm of the SRC, Dr Gitau chose the back seat and let the chairperson of the commission address the media and publicly respond to all matters touching on the pay of the Kenyan public servant.
But while she shied away from the cameras, Dr Gitau was ever-present in all decisions made by the SRC, given that she is a key signatory of policy and formal communications made by the entity.
A certified Human Resources practitioner in Kenya, Dr Gitau and commissioners of the SRC have their fair share of run-ins with nearly all quarters of public servants, from the judiciary, counties, teachers and lawmakers.
Under her leadership, SRC came under fire from MPs who on many occasions between 2015 and 2022 threatened to cut or slash its budget, in response to SRC’s move to cut their perks.
For example, in 2019 the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee chopped off Sh104.6 million from SRC’s budget for hiring new staff, travel and entertainment.
Dr Gitau leaves behind a commission that has finally been accepted by public servants, as the entity that is legally allowed to set their salaries and allowances, a far cry from the early days when they (public servants) saw SRC largely as an enemy to their efforts of getting fair remuneration.
She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Education from Egerton University and followed it with a Master's Degree from the University of Nairobi.
Dr Gitau, has so far remained coy on her next move. It remains to be seen whether she will take up another role in Public Service, a trend that is common with most Kenyans exiting senior roles in public office.
