“No more business as usual” was the message as President William Ruto addressed the National Wage Bill Conference at the Bomas of Kenya.

Organized by the SRC, the Conference set the stage for various stakeholders in the public service to strategize on ways to reduce the public wage bill to revenue ratio to 35%.

This, as envisaged in the constitution, would help to ensure that more resources go to funding development as opposed to the current state where more than 46% of government revenue goes to payment of salaries.

When he took to the podium, President Ruto affirmed his government’s commitment to achieve the 35% target albeit with a disclaimer that it would not be easy.

In his remarks, the President said he was ready to spearhead the government in attempts to realize the goal in three years with measures including cracking the whip on leaders with fake academic certificates.

However, according to him, achieving the goal would call for some unpopular policies.

“It is not easy so it is up to us as leaders to decide whether we want to do this or we want to play in the gallery or whether to talk the walk or we want to walk the talk,” a firm President Ruto noted. 

“If you want people to clap for you all the time or be popular, you can be a comedian,” he added to assert his readiness to take radical measures.  

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Strategies to trim wage bill ratio

Amid the prevailing debates on doctors’ demand for fair remuneration of interns, the President hit out at leaders siding with the striking medics in their strike. 

Ruto also vouched for digitization of revenue collection systems and crackdown on corruption as some of the possible measures to reduce the wage bill to revenue ratio.

According to the President, digitization would help to raise more money for the government thereby easing the pressure of the wage bill on existing revenue.

He also mentioned the thousands of government employees caught with fake certificates, terming it as a thorny issue warranting action.

He termed employment secured using fake papers corruption and affirmed that such officers should be compelled to not only resign but also refund their earnings. 

“We have 2,100 people with fake certificates working for the government. Those who have earned money with fake certificates should refund us our public money,” he said.

“Those who are in government offices today with fake certificates should leave and look for money to pay us public resources that they have earned.”

Gachagua emphasis on weeding out fake degrees

When Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua rose to address the conference, he equally raised concerns over the number of public servants with fake degrees.

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In his speech made in Swahili, the DP warned Ruto of the herculean task awaiting the state in wiping out fake degree holders from the government payroll.

According to him, public officials with fake papers are strong and well connected and, as such, eradicating them would call for involvement of Ruto himself.

“Many people in Gov’t, some Governors and heads of departments, have fake papers,” remarked Gachagua. 

“If we make a decision to get rid of all fellows with fake certificates, we could knock out 10,000 people from the wage bill and recover a billion (Ksh) or two.”

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SRC tables resolutions

The conference was also attended by leaders in the county and national governments including Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, SRC Chairperson Lynne Mengich, and Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru.

Also present were Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, retired Chief Justice David Maraga, and a host of governors.

In its report tabled in the conference, SRC noted that factors contributing to a high wage bill to revenue ratio include wastage, overemployment, employment of wrong skill set and use of outdated systems that lead to inaccurate payrolls.

In addition, payment of excessive allowances over and above the salaries and non-alignment of human resources to the strategic objectives was also listed as an area of concern.

Among the strategies outlined to help Kenya achieve the 35% wage bill ration include integration of technology to manage the public payroll systems and limiting new hiring in the medium term.

The government has also resolved to outsource non-core functions including casuals and streamline non-wage compensation to reduce cases of irregular allowances paid to employees.