Kajiado MCAs Order Governor Lenku To Reduce Wage Bill

The Kajiado assembly has mandated that Governor Joseph Lenku reduce his wage bill from 44% to 35%.

The Ward Reps claimed that the county government disregarded legal requirements and hired a sizable workforce that could not be supported financially.

“That the county government should initiate a hiring freeze to arrest the rising wage bill, which stands at 44 per cent against a ceiling of 35 per cent,” said James Kuya, chair of the budget and appropriation committee.

According to the committee, the principles of good governance, transparency, and accountability should be the main motivators on the part of implementers and the monitoring in order to accomplish prudent financial management of public resources.

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The Kuya-led committee suggested that the county government reevaluates its internal hiring practices and encourage voluntary retirement, layoffs, and internal audits of its workforce.

This came following the assembly’s approval of the county’s supplemental budget estimate for the fiscal year (FY) 2022–2023, which totaled Sh10,773,943,869 to cover recurring and development expenses.

In accordance with Section 104 of the Public Finance Management Act of 2012, Kuya stated that the Finance executive should adopt budgetary control mechanisms to ensure compliance throughout budget implementation and improve fiscal reporting.

“The county treasury should maximise the use of automation to boost revenue collection and seal pilferages to avoid overreliance on the national government allocation,” he said.

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The chairman advised the House’s sectoral committees to monitor departmental reports regarding the usage of budget-approved grants.

According to Kuya, the committee updated the ward development budget to the tune of Sh30 million per ward, totaling Sh750 million, in order to lessen the effects of drought.

He said that in order to lessen the consequences of the drought, the committee also revised major projects worth Sh2.66 billion that are within the purview of the governor’s office.