Politics of Pay Reform Lessons of Experience from Africa

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Politics of Pay Reform Lessons of Experience from
Africa

• Kithinji Kiragu
• Denyse Morin
• Rwekaza Mukandala
• May 2003

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Overview

• Pay is a Key Public Service Issue
• Comparatively poor pay has remained a feature of
  most public services
  
• Major feature of concern for public services in
  most countries

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The Problem

• Why have efforts made to bring about pay reform
  not resulted in more success?
  
• Why have pay levels remained low?
• Why has implementation been difficult?
• Has this happened because of
• Poor implementing capacity of relevant agencies?
• Institutional environment within the concrete
  circumstances of each country?
  
• What is the influence of politics?

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Study Objectives

• Explore and describe the context and limits to
  which models have guided pay reform strategies
  and policies
  
• Collect and organize data and information on
  public service pay reform experiences
  
• Explain the political contexts and rationales
  underlying pay reform policies and strategies
  adopted
  

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Hypotheses

• Technical solutions to public service pay reform
  without due attention to a countrys political
  context are not sustainable
  
• A successful strategy for public service pay
  issues is underpinned by choice of correct
  tactics and sequencing of the appropriate
  measures

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Approach/Methodology

• Two-stage process to see if there is a match
  between the technical choices, political
  developments, and pay reform implementation

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First Stage

• Map out in detail the solutions (choices), the
  tactics and the sequences
  
• Identify analyze any major political
  considerations and developments
  
• Illustrate and trace implementation of public
  service pay reforms including identifying
  implementation stages
  
• Attempt to see if there is a correlation between
  the three variables mentioned above within the
  country

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Second Stage

• Comparatively match the experiences of the
  countries under study on the basis of the three
  variables mentioned above
  
• Establish if there is any correlation across
  countries along these variables

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Country Facts
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Overview

• Pay Regimes
• Politics and Pay
• Politics matters
• Institutions matter

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Significant DefinitionsPay Salary

• Paysalarymonetary benefits in-kind benefits
  including retirement
  
• Nevertheless, salary remains the core element of
  pay
  
• When salary is replaced by benefits and
  allowances there are explicit or implicit
  technical and/or political considerations
  
• Salary trend is a good pointer to the decisions
  underlying pay changes

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Median Real Salary Trends
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Salary Compression Ratios
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Summary of Trends in 1990s

• Botswana consistently high and decompression
• Ghana Zambia overall deterioration, increased
  use of benefits
  
• Bénin Burkina Faso declining salary levels and
  compression
  
• Tanzania Uganda rising levels and
  decompression to a point

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Models, Tactics Techniques

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Three Pay Model Categories
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Model Trends since 1960s
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Politics Matters

• What constitutes the essence of politics is the
  constraints under which political actors operate
  and the strategic maneuvering that they occasion
  and that occurs within them
•  Politics is a complex game of strategic
  calculations. Politicians often face the
  so-called politicians dilemma in deciding
  among a set of policy preferences

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Politicians Dilemma

• CONFLICT
• To survive in office
• To govern effectively efficiently
• To build a loyal political organization
• TRADE-OFF
• Technical considerations for effective
  performance
  
• Partisan loyalty

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Institutions Matter

• Variations among politicians preferences largely
  depend on the nature of the political system, and
  the nations institutions.

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Actors
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Political Systems
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Politics and Pay Reform
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Conclusion

• Politics Matters. The nature of the political
  system, regime legitimacy and stability, and the
  dynamics of the political process are all
  critical variables in pay reform
• Institutionalization of political life and
  organizations matter. Acceptance and respect for
  rules of the political game by major political
  actors and the general citizenry is very
  important, especially for competitive political
  systems
• Ultimately and ideally, technical models can
  fully and sustainably prevail in a competitive
  political system that is highly
  institutionalized, stable, and enjoying high
  levels of legitimacy.

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The Way Forward
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