How bloated public service is draining public coffers

 

Taxpayers are shouldering the burden of a bloated public service that is guzzling billions of shillings of government revenue, a new report shows.

The document by the Controller of Budget shows the ballooning wage bill is draining the public coffers with only meagre resources left for development.

The government spent Sh248.86 billion on remuneration of public servants in the first six months of 2020-21.

This, however, excludes payments to Kenya Defence Forces officers.

The amount is an increase of Sh35 billion compared to the same period the year before and represents 45.2 per cent of the ministries, departments and agencies recurrent expenditure.

Expenditure on personnel emolument shot up even as development suffered significantly during the period under review.

Net expenditure on development in the first six months of the year stood at Sh220.38 billion against Sh227.26 billion the previous year.

“Teachers Service Commission recorded the highest expenditure at Sh135.54 billion representing 54.5 per cent of the total expenditure on compensation to employees,” reads the report released Friday.

Other top spenders on staff salaries and allowances are Interior Ministry (Sh41.97 billion), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sh3.45 billion), Ministry of Health (Sh5 billion) and Parliament (Sh7.78 billion).

The report comes against the backdrop of the efforts by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to cut allowances public servants have been enjoying.

It is reported that some public officials earn up to 150 per cent of their gross pay in allowances, pushing the taxpayers to the corner and stifling development projects and delivery of other essential services.

According to a draft allowances policy unveiled Tuesday by the commission, SRC seeks to cap the allowances at no more than 40 per cent of the gross pay.

However, this will only apply to new employees as the commission has exempted current civil servants.

There are currently over 247 remunerative and facilitative allowances, up from 31 in 1999, payable within the public sector.

The government has also announced a freeze in new hiring and removal of ghost workers from the payroll in a strategy to tame the ballooning wage bill.

The report shows that despite the taxpayers saving Sh4.12 billion on nonessentials such travel and hospitality during the period, due to Covid 19 restrictions, the overall expenditure on recurrent expenses still hit the roof due to the ballooning wage bill.

In total, the government spent Sh544.72 billion on recurrent expenditure, which included travel, hospitality, training and other noncore activities during the period under review.

The government spent Sh509.11 billion on recurrent expenses at the same period the year before.

The taxpayers saved Sh2.97 billion on domestic and foreign travel.

The state spent Sh5.89 billion on travel – domestic and foreign – between July 1 and December 30 last year compared to Sh8.86 billion in the same period the year before.

Hospitality expenses dropped from Sh2.56 billion to Sh1.90 billion, expenditure on training reduced from Sh1.25 billion to Sh512.83 million in the period under review while printing expenses dropped to Sh404.89 million from Sh998.70 million

“The decline is attributed to interruption of local and foreign traveling due to mitigation measures introduced to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” reads the report in part.

It shows shows that Parliament, the State Law Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent the highest amounts on travel.

The National Assembly has often come under heavy criticism for ignoring austerity warnings by indulging in costly trips.

In the period under review, Parliament, consisting of 415 members of the National Assembly and the Senate splurged Sh3.2 billion on travel with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gobbling up slightly under Sh1 billion in the first six months of the fiscal year.    BY THE STAR