Government officials are staring at possible pay cuts as President William Ruto’s government tries to tame the ballooning wage bill by 35%
In a national and county governments joint communiqué signed by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru the summit agreed to convened another summit directed at the convention of the third wage bill conference to deliberate on measures to reduce spending.
“The national government has committed to reduce their wage bill to 35 per cent in line with the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 by 2028,” the state announced.
The national government wage bill currently stands at Sh1.79 trillion representing 40.48 percent of projected Sh2.89 trillion projected ordinary in the current financial year.
The summit also directed the county government to reduce their wage bill in line with the PFM Act.
This implies that national and county governments are likely to slow down hiring of more workers, with the existing staff likely to face massive reduction in their pay.
Both national and county governments have blown their wage bill, with some counties spending up to 60 percent of their income on personnel emolument.
Regulation 25(1)(b) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015 limits the county executive’s expenditure on wages and benefits to not more than 35 percent of the total revenue for the year.