County wages beat spend on civil servants

Last year, counties raised salaries by an average of 17.6 per cent, pushing up average monthly wage to Sh67,372. PHOTO | FILE 

By GEORGE OMONDI

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Summary

• Counties paid an annual wage bill of Sh96.4 billion by end of last year, a Sh1 billion more than the Sh95.4 billion that the national government paid its employees.
• Last year alone, the devolved units raised salaries by an average of 17.6 per cent, pushing up average monthly wage to Sh67,372, compared to the national government which awarded just 3.8 per cent to finish the year at an average monthly pay of Sh44,028. 

The wage bill of counties overtook the national government expenditure on workers for the first time in 2016, reflecting the financial burden of hiring frenzy and rapid wage increases in the last five years.

Counties paid an annual wage bill of Sh96.4 billion by end of last year, a Sh1 billion more than the Sh95.4 billion that the national government paid its employees.

Official data shows the number of county employees rose to 118,900 by end of 2016, a 215 per cent growth over the 37,700 workers inherited from the defunct local authorities at the start of 2013.

Over the period, national government cut its hiring by 18.9 per cent, from 222,600 to 180,600 workers as a number of employees got transferred to handle devolved functions at counties.

“Recruitment [by national departments] was limited to essential services in health, education and security services,” states Economic Survey 2017

While staff working for the national government departments still outnumber those of the counties by 61,700, devolved units have pushed up their wages through generous annual pay increases.

Last year alone, the devolved units raised salaries by an average of 17.6 per cent, pushing up average monthly wage to Sh67,372, compared to the national government which awarded just 3.8 per cent to finish the year at an average monthly pay of Sh44,028.

By comparison, the Teachers Service Commission raised its salaries by 8.1 per cent last year to reach an average of Sh48,616 per month