Sh500m cut in public wages good, but more can be done

The proposed remuneration for public officials would save as much as Sh500 million in salaries and allowances, a notable reduction the current recurrent expenditure of the Government, but not especially significant.

Starting today, Kenyans are invited to have a public conversation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission team on the proposed structure.

This is the first time that the public will have a chance to provide input on how much their president, his deputy, Speaker of the National Assembly and other top officials should be paid. As we said before on this page, the new Constitution, despite the massive bruising it has received at the hands of the Executive and Parliament in the past two years, is beginning to make an impact on Government.This is an opportunity too good to pass up. Proper fiscal policy requires that the Government creates the proper balance between revenue and expenditure to direct the economy towards the goals of the Vision 2030 social and economic development blueprint.

Salaries of public officials account for well over 40 per cent of the total Government budget. A huge chunk of this is paid to MPs, members of the Executive, and independent commissions including the SRC. On December 30 last year, Parliament had to pass a supplementary budget of Sh73 billion to pay for salary increments and development projects. Of this a massive Sh60.2 billion was targeted towards additional salaries for civil servants. As Kenyans debate the proposed remuneration package from the SRC for public servants it is clear that there are still opportunities for reducing the wage bill which is well above the acceptable international average.

These gains added urgency when viewed against the new offices coming after the March 4 elections. For the first time we will have a bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Assembly and the Senate.

And then there are 47 county governments. All this will put a heavy strain in the national budget and will call for a more practical approach to financing of recurrent spending.

Tax revenues remain the main source of Government expenditure, but the economy is not growing fast enough for the Kenya Revenue Authority to meet its quarterly targets. Although KRA has been trying to expand its tax net by roping in hitherto untaxed sections of the informal sector, it is debatable whether this will do much.

Government must confront wastage by various ministries and rein in their spending. One thing that will help will be the reduced number of ministries in the next Government from the current bloated structure that has encouraged massive duplication of roles

At the end of SRC engagement with the public it may well be that it is asked to slash the salaries and allowances even further. Whether it will have the will to do so is another matter altogether.