Rotich goes for civil servants with harsh belt-tightening measures : The Standard

Treasury yesterday introduced a raft of austerity measures targeting civil servants. To begin with, Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury Henry Rotich froze further recruitment of civil servants, except for key technical staff, security personnel, teachers and health workers. The Government will also not extend the service of thousands of civil servants set to retire after attaining the age of 60. Moreover, Treasury announced plans to undertake another purge on the Government payroll to weed out ghost workers.

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Similar campaign A similar campaign announced five years ago by President Uhuru Kenyatta unearthed about 12,500 ghost workers on the Government’s payroll, who were pocketing up to Sh1.8 billion every year. The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD), a payroll system introduced in the 1990s and touted as effective for processing loans and advances, and ensuring recovery, will also be discarded for the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) Human Resource Module. The Standard has reported before of how it has been easy for fraudsters to use the system to access vital information needed to apply for loans — a civil servant’s full name, staff number, date of employment, ID number and payslips. For civil servants wanting to travel in and outside the country, Rotich proposed use of an electronic card system.

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Technology will also be used in management of fleet to improve efficiency and cut cost, with Treasury proposing use of fuel cards in Government departments. To deal with procurement fraud, Treasury proposed an electronic end-to-end solution on all procurement processes. According to Rotich, such a process would enhance efficiency, transparency and accountability in procurement. The CS also acknowledged that the Government had been leasing office space at higher than market rates, resulting in huge costs. He announced that beginning July 1, all procurement of office space for Government use would be standardised, with existing contracts renegotiated.

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The belt tightening proposals are part of the Government’s goal to bring down debt levels that stood at Sh5.4 trillion by April. With the Government expected to raise Sh2.1 trillion in ordinary revenues against a budget of Sh2.8 trillion, Treasury is expected to borrow up to Sh607.8 billion by end of June 2020. Treasury will plug this budget hole by borrowing Sh324.3 billion externally and Sh283.5 billion domestically. Borrowed cash Rotich said most of the borrowed cash was used to build roads, ports and railways.

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He said all borrowed resources must be used wisely, noting that the Government had since established Public Investment Management Unit to appraise all infrastructure projects before they are committed in the budget. This, he explained, will be done to establish projects' value for money. Treasury has in recent times been undertaking fiscal consolidation, putting in place polices aimed at reducing debt. As a result, non-priority expenditure had been excluded from the budget and all new projects except those related to Uhuru’s Big Four agenda frozen.  The Government is also reviewing the portfolio of externally funded projects to restructure and re-align them with the Big Four agenda.

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GovernmentHenry RotichTreasury