Nairobi, KENYA: Deputy President William Ruto has said the government will take several measures to cap the huge wage bill in the country.
Speaking during the farewell ceremony of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission commissioners, Ruto said that the gains that had been made by the SRC were being eroded by the huge number of staff in the public service.
“We must bring urgently possibly in the next two to three months we must bring to parliament the public service benefits and remuneration bill that will create the force of law to ensure that progressively we bring the wage bill from 52% to 35%,” Ruto said.
Ruto said the public service wage bill when passed would be applicable to all government departments and counties.
Ruto also called on the public service cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki to urgently engage relevant public service boards to ensure gains made by the SRC are not eroded.
“The public service must begin an urgent process of engaging the public service the county public service boards and government boards at national and county level to ensure we stem the runaway numbers that are eroding the gains we are making in harmonizing public wages,” Ruto added.
Currently, the Kenyan wage bill takes up 11% of the Gross Domestic Product and 53% of the budget way higher than the international standards for Sub-Saharan Africa which have been set at 34%.
In February the International monetary fundraised the red flag on Kenya’s ballooning wage bill which experts blame on the devolved system of government where counties have been blamed on employing unnecessary staff who are duplicating roles.
In July, the SRC chair Sarah Serem introduced new salary structures for elected leaders and holder of the public office that would save the taxpayer sh. 8.8 billion when effected.
The SRC commissioners have been in office for the past 6 years.
