Governors blame bloated staff for deficit of development money

A proposed law seeking to force county governments to spend 60 per cent of their funds on development is impractical due to the high number of workers the regions inherited, the Council of Governors said on Wednesday.

The council’s secretary, Mr Ken Lusaka told the Nation that senators should help county bosses deal with excess staff inherited from the defunct local authorities instead of backing the Bill.

The Public Finance Management (Amendment) Bill, sets a minimum of 60 per cent of county budgets for development, leaving only 40 per cent for recurrent expenditure.

He said a proper audit should be undertaken to come up with sustainable measures to tame the wage bill. He expressed fears that sacking the workers arbitrarily could be counterproductive politically and invite lawsuits.

“We can’t just sack these workers because they are protected by the law. It is a sensitive matter,” said Mr Lusaka, who is also the Bungoma governor.

He appealed for senators to shelve the Bill and give the Devolution ministry time to come up with solutions to the bloated workforce.

“Though our focus is development, we cannot ignore recurrent expenditure. You cannot build a road if you have not paid salaries. The senators are setting us up against workers. There will be strikes all over,” said Mr Lusaka.

The Bill is sponsored by Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki, Senate Majority Whip Beatrice Elachi, and senators Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo-Marakwet, URP) and Stephen Sang’ (Nandi, URP). Mr Murkomen said there was no law that compelled counties to absorb all the workers they inherited from the councils.

“We need to do away with the mentality that the government exists to employ people. The government must be as lean as possible so that people can get better services and attract investors,” said Mr Murkomen.

Senator Otieno Kajwang’ said there was need for a law to curb waste by MCAs and governors and force them to concentrate on development projects.