Uhuru, Ruto to take 20pc pay cut in bid to tame huge wage bill

President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that his pay and that of his deputy William Ruto will be cut by 20 per cent while that of Cabinet secretaries by 10 per cent in efforts to reduce the public wage bill.

The President, while speaking at the end of a four-day retreat in Nanyuki, said that a manageable wage bill was imperative for the country to achieve the ambitious plan of being a middle income economy by 2030.

“The current wage bill is beyond our means. If we are to achieve Vision 2030, this is an area we have to look at,” he said on Friday in a televised address to the nation.

Currently, the State spends Sh458 billion in payments to public officers.

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This has prompted the government to adhere to austerity measures with plans afoot to downsize the bloated civil service.

The President has also pledged to boost investments in the country’s security machinery including better working conditions for police officers.

“We can’t secure the country if we cannot protect our protectors,” he said.