REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

EMOLUMENTS COMMISSION
___________________________________________________________________________________________

PRESENTATION ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE EMOLUMENT COMMISSION ACT NO:1 OF

2022 TO THE 25TH ANNUAL CONVETION OF THE ZAMBIA INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

BY MWAMBA PENI-PERMANENT SECRETARY

27TH OCTOBER 2022.

 Presentation outline
• Introduction;
• historical context of public pay
• Definition of Emoluments;
• Implications;
• Coverage of the Emoluments commission;
• Review Cycle and Special Review;
• Factors to consider when submitting Proposals;
• Emoluments Commission and unionised workers;
• Emoluments Commission and non-unionized workers; and
• Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
The essence of the Emoluments Commission Act is to
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service
delivery and to reform service delivery institutions for
the following reasons:
▪Firstly, the quality and timely provision of basic public
goods and services is essential to securing economic
and social fundamentals of a sustained economic
growth as well as the general well being of the people
of Zambia.
• Secondly, the legitimacy of the state depends in part on
how well service delivery institutions meet the demands of
the citizens.

• Thirdly, and most importantly, effective delivery of social

services is crucial to facilitating increased investment in
human capital as well as improving the well being of
households, particularly low income households.

• Be that as it may, low pay coupled with poorly structured

internal grading systems that is based on self entitlement
to automatic annual salary increment rather than
performance stifles innovation and motivation.
• Of note also is the discrepancies that have crept into
wages and allowances paid for comparable jobs within
and across institutions with similar mandates.

• By addressing these issues, it is the hope of

government that it will enhance the capacity of state
organs and state institutions to attract, retain and
motivate officers and staff with requisite
qualifications, skills and experience in order to
improve service delivery.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF PUBLIC PAY
• 24TH October, 1964, a new nation is born with all its hopes
and aspirations.

• In an attempt to provide an engine to foster the vision of the

nation, government decided to nationalized strategic sectors
of the economy in 1972.

• Along the way, some more statutory bodies and state owned
enterprises were created as part of the vision to improve
public service delivery.
• At what point did the entity you work for join the vision
of the nation called Zambia?

• Where does your career join the history?

• When you enter the vision, at what point are you part
of this vision?
• Has your entity made a significant contribution to the
national vision or it has only benefited you at the
individual level?
• Between 1964 and 1975, there was a high level of
remuneration coupled with an appropriate incentive
regime.
• Between 1975-1983, real public service salaries had lost
value between 30% and 40% .
• The period between 1983 and 1991 saw substantial
decline in real pay across the three arms of Government.
• 1991 to 2000 worst period which saw the change of
government premised on dealing with structural
imbalances in the economy through the SAP and public
service reforms.
▪Real public service pay declined between 85% and 90%
compared to the value of 1975.

▪Suffice to say, from independence until the 1980s there

no clear policy to guide remuneration management in
state institutions and state organs;

▪Grant aided Institutions and statutory bodies came up

with their on internal mechanism to determine pay.

▪For those in the mainstream civil service, they relied on

the outcome of ad hoc salary commissions deliberations.
▪These commissions while reviewing public service
remuneration and conditions of service general
offered piece-meal solutions to addressing the
problems of the public service.

▪ Consequently, this created further distortions across

the various groups of personnel employed by the
public service and within groups themselves.
▪There was some attempt through medium-term pay
reform strategy (2002 to 2007) to systematically
raising compensation for the core professional,
technical and management personnel in public service
as a prerequisite for improving civil service
performance through Selective Accelerated Salary
Enhancement (SASE) Scheme.
• In an attempt to have a comprehensive analysis of pay
differentials, Government in 2010 set up a Salaries
Review Commission across the general public service.

• The analysis revealed that while there were distortions

in the basic salaries, these became more significant in
relation to the Total Cost to Employer (TCE). For instance,
in one governance institution, the difference between
basic salaries and Total Cost to the Employer (TCE) was
as high as 607 percent, while in another it was 485
percent.
These distortions and disparities highlighted above were
perpetuated by among others:

• existence of multiple and uncoordinated negotiating

points for salaries and conditions of service in the
Public Service.

• There is no harmonised and unified framework for

determining and approving salaries and conditions of
service that takes into account the short, medium and
long term socio-economic perspectives.
▪existence of numerous and complex pieces of legislation
governing emoluments in the Public Service;

▪Job evaluation, a cornerstone of the principle of equal pay for

equal work, not undertaken across the Public Service; and

▪Lack of a system to link pay to performance.

▪This resulted in Public Service Agencies/institutions

determining their own salaries and conditions of service
independently and based on provisions of their enabling
legislation without recourse to any Central Agency, resulting
in vertical and horizontal disparities, distortions and inequity.
Government’s response to that

• Public Pay Policy in 2012 (no lifeline)

• Integrated competitive total remuneration strategy

(2012-2021).
 THE ESTABLIDHMENT OF THE EMOLUMENTS
COMMISSION
• The Republican Constitution defines Emoluments as follows:

• “salaries, allowances, benefits, and rights that form an

individual’s remuneration for services rendered, including
pension benefits or other benefits on retirement.”
• The establishment of the Emoluments Commission is a
recognition of the reality that emoluments in state organs
and state institutions are characterised by serious
inconsistencies, variations, huge distortions and disparities in
salaries, quality and conditions of service and job-grade
structures.

• In a number of cases, pay does not reflect the level of

responsibilities, productivity, performance, equity, fairness,
capacity to pay and sustainability.
• Suffice to say, adequate and fair pay is a key component in
improving and sustaining the motivation, performance and
integrity of public servants.

• Therefore, the determination of adequate pay requires a

more objective, systematic and consistent approach that
takes into account the economic, political and social realities
which ultimately ensures that there is a linkage between pay
and productivity and performance.
• In the past, Government had endeavoured to address the
issue of pay in the Public Service but all the efforts put in
place did not yield the expected results due the piece meal
approach undertaken.

• Recognising the importance of a more systematic and

comprehensive approach to address the pay and incentive
challenges, the New Dawn Government prioritised the
operationalisation of the Emoluments Commission as soon
as it was ushered into office.
• This move is aimed at enhancing the capacity of state organs
and state institutions to attract, retain and adequately
motivate human resource with the requisite skills and
experience for improved service delivery for less time, less
risk and less cost resulting in more policy impact, more
citizen satisfaction and more citizen empowerment.

• The objective of the Emoluments Commission is to provide

for a harmonised and unified framework for determining pay
while eradicating wage discrepancies across and within state
organs and state institutions.
• However, as pay and incentives problems that have
characterised the public service have persisted for a long
time, these challenges cannot be solved with a once-off
salary adjustment.

• Therefore, the operationisation of the Emoluments

Commission is a process of adjusting and rationalising pay in
an affordable, transparent and sustainable manner.
• Article 232 of the Constitution of Zambia (amendment) act, 2016
establishes the emoluments commission with the mandate to
determine, on the recommendation of the relevant authority or
commission, the emoluments of public officers, chiefs and members
of the house of chiefs.

• Further, article 264 (2) provides for the commission to determine

emoluments of a state officer, councilor, constitution office holder
and a judge.
IMPLICATIONS
• The coming into effect of the act implies that all public bodies,
state organs and state institutions ceased to determine their own
emoluments on 6th of July, 2022 as guided under section 36 of
the emoluments commission act, 2022 which states that:

• “a state organ, state institution or any other authority

concerned with the determination of emoluments of a chief or
an officer in a state organ or state institution before the
commencement of this act, shall cease to be responsible for the
determination of emoluments after the commencement of this
act.”
• Further, the act has a supremacy clause under section 3
which states that:

• “subject to the constitution, where there is an inconsistency

between the provisions of this act and the provisions of any
other written law on the determination of emoluments, the
provisions of this act shall prevail to the extent of the
inconsistency.”
WHO IS COVERED UNDER THE EMOLUMENTS COMMISSION

• A contextual approach to articles 232, 264, 265 and 200 of

the Constitution shows that the Emoluments Commission
has mandate to determine the emoluments of a State
institution (including a statutory body) that receives public
funds. The expenses of such State institution are either
charged to the Consolidated Fund or a prescribed public
fund created by an Act of Parliament for a specific purpose.
REVIEW CYCLE AND SPECIAL REVIEW

• The Commission shall every two (2) years undertake a

concurrent review of emoluments for chiefs and officers in a
state organ and state institution. These reviews shall not
always lead to an increase in the emoluments of a chief and
an officer in a state organ or institution.

• Despite the two (2) year concurrent reviews, the Commission

shall also undertake special reviews whose results shall
inform the (2) two-year review cycle.
• The purpose of the special reviews will be to attract and
retain critical or scarce professional skills required for
effective execution of functions of a State organ or State
institution and to compensate for increased cost of living for
a chief or an officer in a State organ or State institution.

• Prior to conducting the two-year review cycle, the

Commission shall ensure that a study is conducted on labour
market efficiency and dynamics, as well as a survey on the
prevailing economic situation considering, but not limited to
the following parameters:
• Performance and productivity of a state organ and state
institution;
• Efficiency in service delivery;
• Global and domestic economic outlook;
• Cost of living;
• Wage bill sustainability; and
• Profitability.
FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN SUBMITTING SALARY PROPOSALS

• The relevant authority or Commission shall put into consideration the following
factors when preparing and submitting proposals for emoluments adjustments in
accordance with section 20 of the Emoluments Commission Act:

• (a) Fixed and variable components of emoluments;

• (b) Legal, social, economic and environmental issues;

• (c) Results of job evaluations, performance and productivity;

• (d) Results of comparative labour market surveys;

• e) Existing collective bargaining agreements;

• (f) Specific cost of employment in relation to the resource capacity

of the relevant authority;

• (g) Affordability and sustainability of proposed emoluments, and

available funds within the approved budget of a State organ and
State institution;

• (h) Emoluments of similar regional or international organisations;

• (i) Equity and competitiveness;

• (j) Linkage to the national objectives, priorities and human resource

management strategy;

• (k) Salary structures of a chief and an officer in a State organ and

State institution; and

• (l) Any other matter relevant to the determination of emoluments.

• Further, a relevant authority or commission shall, in addition
to the factors mentioned above, consider the relevant
authority’s nature of service, performance or financial
turnover. Thereafter, the Emolument Commission shall, not
later than the second quarter of the second year of the
review, communicate to the relevant authority the approved
emoluments by notice in the Gazette.

• Be that as it may, the emoluments in question shall be

effected on a date not earlier than 1st of January of the
subsequent financial year after being factored in the national
budget or the entity’s budget.
• Additionally, a relevant authority or commission is obliged to
submit to the Emoluments Commission data of the
prevailing emoluments of the relevant authority’s officers
and staff annually.
THE EMOLUMENTS COMMISSION AND UNIONISED WORKERS

• The Emoluments Commission Act, 2022 does recognize the right

to collective bargaining consistent with Industrial and Labour
Relations Act Cap 269 of the Laws of Zambia and Zambia’s
obligations under two of the International Labour Organisation’s
fundamental or Core Conventions: ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

• Section 5-The Commission shall not engage itself in negotiating a

salary or condition of service for a chief or an officer in a state
organ or state institution.

• Public officer’s employer representative on the bargaining unit

shall be designated as the relevant authority for purposes of
recommending emoluments;
THE EMOLUMENTS FOR NON-UNIONISED STAFF IN STATE
ORGANS AND STATE INSTITUTIONS

• For Statutory Bodies, Grant aided institutions and

parastatals, the relevant authority shall be the respective
board of directors.

• Institutions are required to submit to the Emoluments

Commission Secretariat, the terms and conditions of service
for new employees and contracts, for staff to be appointed
on contract as well as renewal of contracts for clearance
before they can be offered to the employees.
• No negotiations on salaries and conditions of service shall
commence without engaging the Commission on the
guidelines within which the negotiations should be
conducted in line with section 20 of the Emoluments
Commission Act, 2022.

• Remuneration Division which is transitioning into the

Secretariat of the Commission shall perform the functions of
the Secretariat which include the day to day administration
of the commission. The determination of emoluments will be
undertaken by the Emoluments Commission once the
Commissioners are sworn in.
CONCLUSION
• Finally, the operationalization of the Emoluments
Commission in Zambia will facilitate equitable and fair
remuneration; reward performance and productivity; enable
public institutions to attract and retain requisite skills and
enable Government to pay equal pay to persons for work of
equal value.