Kidero considering jobs cut at City Hall to tame wage bill
City Hall is mulling a freeze in hiring and a voluntary early retirement plan to reduce its wage bill that takes 60 per cent of its revenues.
Nairobi’s budget review document released last week indicated that it’s keen on removing undisclosed number of staff from its payroll to free money for development and improve the quality of public services in the capital.
The increase in the wage bill has continued to eat into the county’s finances and led to a drop in project spending like road repairs.
The staff headcount currently stands at about 14,300, up from 12,000 in 2010, comprising mostly unskilled workers including sweepers, clerks and watchmen.
“A freeze on non-essential recruitment, outsourcing non critical services and explore voluntary retirement package,” the county proposes in the budget review paper.
“The county government is committed to bringing down the proportion of expenditure on wages to below 50 per cent in the medium term.”
With an annual wage bill of about Sh14 billion against a revenue base of Sh22.9 billion earned from land rates, business permits, parking fees and transfers from the national government, salaries take close to 61 per cent of City Hall’s total expenditure, making the wage bill trimming a prime target of the reorganisation plan.
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SOURCE: Business Daily
