Economy

Counties first half wage bill hits Sh80bn on hiring spree

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Controller of budget Agnes Odhiambo. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Counties' wage bill rose by a fifth in the six months to December to Sh80 billion, reflecting the financial burden of hiring frenzy and rapid salary increases in the devolved units.

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo says in her latest report that salaries in the 47 counties jumped 20.3 percent from Sh66.4 billion during a similar period a year earlier.

While the national government has gone slow on hiring, counties have stepped up recruitment in recent years, squeezing allocation for development projects like building roads, water and sewerage infrastructure.

Official data shows the number of county employees rose to 132,600 by end of 2017 from 94,700 in the first year under devolution, reflecting a 40 percent growth. Workers under the central government have increased 10 percent to 197,600 over the five-year period to 2017.

Biggest threat

Mrs Odhiambo has fingered the rising wage bill as the biggest threat to development in counties — where governors are keen to reward their kin and cronies with jobs.

“Analysis of the personnel emoluments as a percentage of the total expenditure shows that Wajir, Baringo and Nyamira counties recorded the highest percentage at 89.3 percent, 76.5 percent and 75.7 percent, respectively,” said Mrs Odhiambo.

Wajir spent Sh1.9 billion of its Sh2.1 billion expenditure in the six months on pay. Baringo and Nyamira used Sh1.6 billion and Sh1.7 billion respectively on wages.

Counties wage bill in the six months to December is over three times the Sh24.7 billion the devolved units spent on development and accounted for 58.4 percent of the total expenditure.

At 20.3 percent, the counties wage bill raced ahead of the national government, which rose 6.9 percent in the half to Sh193.9 billion

The rise in counties pay saw the average salary of workers in developed units surpass that of parastatals.