• Council of Governors chairman says poor staffing structure to blame for county governments’ bloated wage bill.
• Controller of Budget's report for July-December 2018 reveals devolved units spent Sh80 billion on salaries, leaving little cash for development.
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The Council of Governors has admitted that county governments are faced with a wage bill crisis that has made it impossible for them to drive proper development.
Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya yesterday told the Star there was a need for a "sober and non-politicised" conversation on the matter if the problem is to be solved permanently.
The Kakamega county boss said poor staffing structure is to blame for the county governments’ bloated wage bill.
The Controller of Budget, in a report for July-December 2018, revealed that the devolved units spent Sh80 billion on salaries leaving little cash for development.
Oparanya said governors’ hands are tied when it comes to changing the staffing plan as some of the roles played by the units are inevitable.
“We should have a fresh look at what structures are effective to deliver devolution effectively without affecting development. Governors have no choice but to have this talk,” he said.
“This needs a serious discussion without involving politics. We are helpless. Let us come together with the national government and make a decision as a country.”
The county structures causing the high wage bill include administrative units at the ward level which operate akin to the national government’s regional administration.
“We need to look at whether the structures are sustainable and what we can do differently. This will be a healthy debate. We need to get it right,” Oparanya reiterated.
He cited Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) as one area that has seen counties pay more salaries.
Oparanya said counties had to hire ECD tutors at the onset of devolution to improve quality of learning at the lowest level of education.
The tutors were once hired by the community and were paid between Sh500 to Sh1,000 monthly.
“The arrangement affected the quality of education at that level. Being a foundation of education, it was critical it was assigned to one level of government to undertake it. Counties were assigned the role,” the governor said.
“If you have to employ all these teachers, at say the rate of three to four per school, with some of the primary schools having five streams, the wage bill will obviously be very high.”
The governor added that without the grassroots administrative structures, it would be difficult to communicate government policies to residents.
“Even if we were to inherit the structure of the defunct local authorities, we would still have institutions like the county assembly. The unavoidable structures have contributed to the high wage bill.”
The CoG chair further stated there was a need to review the huge disparity in salaries paid to county workers.
He cited cases where staff inherited from the defunct local authorities earn more than those hired by county governments yet the latter are more qualified.
Oparanya said in some cases a driver who was hired by a county council earns Sh100,000 while one hired by the current administration have their pay capped at Sh24,000.
“It is stressful as you can neither sack the inherited workers nor deduct their salaries to match their qualification or job group,” he said.