High wage bill ‘path to economic ruin’, says Micah Cheserem

The runaway public spending is threatening the country’s financial stability and could lead to economic ruin if unchecked.

Commission for Revenue Allocation chairman Micah Cheserem, the man responsible for sharing of revenue between the national and county governments, warned that the country was being set on a path to financial melt-down similar to the one recently experienced in western Europe unless spending is controlled.

Mr Cheserem asked both administrations to stop wasting public funds on excessive foreign and local travel, allowances and purchase of luxury vehicles for senior public officials.

“We risk going the Greece way if we do not control the public wage bill, we must cut wastage, do away with excessive travel both foreign and domestic, and too many allowances to public servants in order to free money for development. Financial discipline is the key word here,” he said.

REFERENDUM 'TOO COSTLY'

In an interview with the Nation, the CRA chairman called for dialogue between the national and county governments to save the country from an expensive referendum being called for by governors and the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord).

“A referendum will be too costly, the national and county governments must start talking to each other to find a solution on how the resources can be shared in a manner acceptable to both,” he stated.

Mr Cheserem called on the national government to release money to the counties to fund services which have been devolved to the county governments.

“The two levels of government need to meet and agree on which functions have been devolved to the counties so that money intended for those functions is released to the county governments, that way, we will not have this acrimony.”