Only bold commitment to action, not conferences will end wage bill crisis

President William Ruto and SRC Chairperson Lynn Mengich during the official closing of the Wage Bill Conference at the Bomas of Kenya. [PCS]

The Third Wage Bill Conference happened this week with ambitious 10 resolutions. A notable resolution was for public agencies to institute measures to reduce the wage bill to the elusive 35 per cent wage-to-revenue ratio. Interestingly, this responsibility has been left to the Cabinet Secretaries of the respective ministries, and to the National Treasury and Controller of Budget (CoB) to monitor. Potentially, this is in itself the weakest link in the whole debate.

The conference is good for purposes of having a national conversation on this age old question. For historical context, it was the same problem that led to the disastrous Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in the 1990s. SAPs were the weapon of choice and antidote by the Bretton Woods institutions to force governments of developing countries to take action on ballooning public wage bills.