NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 26 – National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukuru Yatani has stressed the need for the implementation of the Public Sector remuneration policy to avoid overlap of payments in government departments.
Speaking during the opening of a three-day conference on a fiscally sustainable wage bill, Yatani said the policy will further ensure there are no ghost workers in both the National and County governments.
He said current wage bill of 48.1 percent of revenue is more than the recommended requirement of not more than 35 percent stipulated in the Public Finance Management Act.
“Due to the negative impact of a high wage bill, it is important that effective public sector wage bill management strategies be put in place to achieve the wage bill to revenue target of not more than 35 percent in order to release resources for development and continuous expansion of services,” he said.
Yatani further stated the need for a reduction in the size of the government to unravel the recurrent expenditure.
Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya urged both the National and County governments to put measures in place to reduce their wage bill.
“There is need to view and amend the existing labour laws with the changing economic times. I commit to working with stakeholders to achieving the mandate of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission,” he said.
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) said the conference is aimed at ensuring productivity, performance management, labour relations, public sector pension liability, optimization of public service, work ethic and remuneration.
The three-day event is expected to come with policies and strategies that improve the bill to ensure more funds are released to address other aspects of the government.
SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said the high wage bill has resulted to financial constraints hence the need for higher public investments.
She also called for focus on the management wage bill to ensure it is at par with economic and revenue growth.
