Wage bill debate circumvents the real wastage

What you need to know:

  • As a country, we seem to be ignoring the big tap that pours away our money, and this is corruption.
  • We need to realize that the law must be the basis of making any national decision to create a precedent that must guide future decisions.

Alex Himelfarb in Tax Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Different Take on Taxes in Canada spoke of fiscal prudence to mean spending wisely, reducing waste, collecting sufficient taxes to pay for the public goods and services we want, keeping budgets in relative balance over time and keeping debt coming down, at least during reasonably good times.

I really wish he was instead speaking to our President and the Cabinet secretary for National Treasury.

First, it’s imprudent to demand that certain job groups take a 20 per cent pay cut yet, it’s basic legal knowledge that salary forms the core aspect of any employment contract, and that any reduction needs time and the backing of law. Otherwise, the affected party may sue for damages, and the courts may grant the prayers of the applicant leading to a payoff with taxpayers’ money.

This begs the question, who is advising the President on the issue of asking top civil servants to take a compulsory pay cut of 20 per cent? The irony of it all is that the Chairperson for the Salary and Review Commission is joining the bandwagon yet she should be well aware of the legal implications of this directive.

The President should have first passed a bill in parliament. The CS for National Treasury should have done the leg-work to have a law that backs this directive first and one which details which category of people and job groups that will be affected in the pay cut. But alas, it’s a country club decision, in the comfort of the rich as we ordinary mortals toss and turn in bed, wondering how tomorrow will pan out.

Imagine telling a starving person that you will eat less food, so that maybe one day, he can also afford a meal. This is what the President is telling us ordinary Kenyans. All this reeks of arrogance and lack of foresight in solving the nation’s biggest challenges.

I believe we have economists working for the President who can advise him on this. A decision that is meant to take the country forth should not attract any risk that threatens to swallow the purpose of the decision.

If we are serious about managing our wage bill and refocusing funds on development, let us first draft a bill that absolutely must be passed in Parliament.

The law, when passed will ensure that all sitting allowances for MPs, commission members and the JSC are halved. Times for the sittings should be scheduled in advance and made public, not left to the discretion of the commissioners.

The law will ensure that all job groups are reviewed to reflect the national need of directing our funds to better use to take the country forward. Entrench in the law that no single public function will happen in a private business. It’s not the prerogative of government to enrich selected few but to create an environment for all to thrive.

THREE MEALS A DAY

The law will ensure that no single government or county official car is used beyond working hours or on weekends, for whatever reason except for selected constitutional offices. If a civil servant wishes to eat, they are paid a salary. Buying senior government officials three meals a day at the expense of starving Kenyans is repugnant.

The law should also rope in procurement. Anyone tendering for any government or public tender should strictly adhere to market forces. The government should not pay KSh3000 for a hoe that costs KSh125 at the local market.

As a country, we seem to be ignoring the big tap that pours away our money, and this is corruption. I would love to see better action on this by the President. I would like to see all those corrupt procurement government officials nabbed.

A friend asked me yesterday, what does the President really want? I mean he is one of the richest men in Africa. He is a prince by birth. He is apparently assured of ruling for ten years, he learnt from the best professor of politics. So what does want? To supervise as the country is raped to death or leave a legacy where the generations of tomorrow will be happy to be called Kenyans?

Will he be a politician and worry about the next election or he will be a leader and worry about the next generations? If he really cares about this country, then he will take on corruption. He will be open about the oil deals in Turkana.

Most important he will rein in the MPs, the MCAs and ensure that they earn what is enough. Otherwise what we hearing about reductions is simply wool over our eyes as something more sinister happens in the background.

The President seems to be opting for populist decisions instead of the truth that hurts but is good for us. We need to realize that the law must be the basis of making any national decision to create a precedent that must guide future decisions.

Otherwise everything remains just that, words meant to charm but not deliver.

Twitter: @SokoAnalyst