Economy

Retrench redundant staff, CRA chair Micah Cheserem tells counties

Commission on Revenue Allocation chairman Michael Cheserem has urged counties to dismiss redundant staff as a way of reining in rising wage bills.

Mr Cheserem said the devolved units would have more money for development if they reduced the number of employees.

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Kisii Governor James Ongwae in his office on Tuesday, Mr Cheserem said salaries consumed a huge chunk of the money allocated to counties.

He called for the retrenchment of staff in counties registering more than 35 per cent in recurrent expenditure.

“I think governors who will come in the next term should think along this line so that devolution can have its intended effect,” Mr Cheserem said.

He cited Kisii as one of the counties with an unacceptable wage bill.

He said a significant percentage of the Sh7.5 billion the regional government received from the National Treasury went to salaries and that only a paltry figure remained for development.

WAGE BILLS AND DEVOLUTION

He said only through sustainable wage bills would the benefits of devolution be realised.

“With high wage bills we will still be stuck at where we have been all this long. Our women will still be fetching water from several kilometres away on jerricans and donkeys,” said Mr Cheserem.

For his part, the Kisii governor said the county had made significant strides in development courtesy of devolution.

Mr Ongwae cited improvements in healthcare, transport and agriculture as among the achievements in four years of devolution.

He lauded Mr Cheserem, saying he is among leaders who have played an instrumental role in ensuring devolution works.

“For this, we are very thankful and as a governor I want to assure you that we want the welfare of our people to improve through this,” Mr Ongwae said.

He said more than 25 banks now have branches in the county, up from 12 before devolution, and more than 17 insurance companies, up from nine.

Mr Ongwae said staff inherited from the defunct municipal counties had pushed up the county’s wage bill.