Stringent controls needed to curb wastage in public expenditure

It is no longer in doubt that the wage bill has crossed the red line. In a report released last week, Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo expressed concern over the ballooning counties' wage bill. Not that the national government is any better. In fact, since independence, the Government has come under heavy criticism for wastage, inefficiency, indiscipline, red tape and deep-rooted corruption.

So stung by an ever-increasing wage bill that is not matched by productivity, the Government, through the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), has lined up a job evaluation exercise in a bid to harmonise the salaries of civil servants, as well as cut down on the huge wage bill.

The Controller of Budget's report shows a bias for spending large sums of money on salaries and personal emoluments than on development projects. It reveals that counties spent Sh74.12 billion on salaries in the first nine months of the 2014/2015 fiscal year. This represents 63.7 per cent of the total amount allocated to the 47 counties. Consequently, development, which should consume more, ended up taking only Sh51.23 billion while operations took Sh39.14 billion. At least Sh3.34 billion went to servicing debts and pending bills.

Last week, MPs suggested that governors and Members of County Assemblies be placed under the microscope on suspicion of misusing public funds. Given the level of wastage, forgetting for a while that they could be on a witch-hunting mission, the MPs may have a valid point.

While we cannot ignore the fact that staff from the defunct Local Authorities were retained by county governments, the governors and the county assemblies have continued to employ more staff. In the push to balance ethnic and political interests, counties have ended up with more staff than necessary, thus driving up the wage bill.

Meanwhile, politicians are trying to build ethnic voting blocks for themselves by irregularly securing jobs for their relatives and cronies.

Allocations for sitting allowances were depleted fast, with some counties exceeding limits. Turkana county, which is said to have spent Sh45.5 million on sitting allowance, had an allocation of Sh10 million. Nandi County did not budget for sitting allowances, but ended up spending Sh31.36 million all the same.

Last year, Members of County Assemblies expended funds on foreign junkets that alarmed some European countries into declaring them persona non grata. Whereas they spent Sh4.9 billion on domestic and foreign travel in the 2013/2014 financial year, they went on to spend Sh5.71 billion in the first nine months of the 2014/2015 financial year, against a  total allocation of Sh8.63 billion.

The Controller of Budget's report reveals that despite allocating funds for specific requirements in work plans, many counties go ahead to spend the money on projects not budgeted for. This may explain the disillusionment the public has had with some development agendas. It is commonplace to hear people complain of bad roads, health centres without medical supplies and excessive taxation, perhaps to cover shortfalls.

With such haphazard spending, there is need for stringent controls. The cash spent on travel, even when it makes no noticeable difference in service delivery, should be reviewed. Sitting allowances provide outlets for a few individuals to misuse public funds. To succeed in cutting down on the wage bill, sacrifices must be made, and SRC needs support, not vilification. It is going to be painful, but it is necessary so as to give value to taxpayers.