Counties fan the high public wage bill crisis

By FRANKLINE SUNDAY

NAIROBI, KENYA: County governments have worsened the country’s public wage crisis, eroding gains that were expected to be reaped from devolution.

The move by counties to haphazardly employ additional staff yet others were seconded from national government is among ways the regions have fuelled the public wage crisis.

This came out Monday at the National Debate on Public Wage Bill Sustainability forum held in Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was among the first speakers to fault county administrations.

“The devolved units seem to have inherited the tradition of inflated wage bills, eating into resources meant for development projects in counties. We need to streamline the management of salaries at all levels of Government,” said Uhuru. Some of the employees inherited from the defunct local authorities are said to be earning more than those in national government, despite having similar qualifications.

FUND MANAGERS

The President alluded to the recent report by the Auditor General that revealed wanton wastage of public resources in county governments.

The forum was convened to help develop solutions to tame the ballooning public wage bill, which currently stands at 55 per cent of Kenya’s tax revenue for the 2013/2014 financial year. Barely in their first year of existence, the country’s 47 counties have made headlines for inappropriate fiscal governance with damming reports indicting several governors for misappropriation of funds.

Prior to the March 2013 General Election, 75 per cent of county councils were said to be unable to pay their employees’ salaries with the rest using more than 70 per cent on their operating expenditure on salaries.

A Price Waterhouse Coopers report released in 2011 stated that the authorities owed over Sh17 billion in debts to the central government, private sector and fund managers.

The transfer of assets and debts from the local authorities to the county governments meant that Kenya’s new administrative units started off their operations saddled with debt, which is currently being transferred to tax payers through high taxes.