Rotich announces new austerity measures to cut spending

Treasury CS Henry Rotich has announced a raft of measures to cut government spending in his 2019-20 budget statement.

Rotich said the government will adopt a policy of no new projects to ensure the government completes on its existing projects.

The CS said a cleansing of the ballooning wage bill will be initiated to weed out ghost workers in government departments.

He declared the government will restrict the recruitment of civil servants to key technical staff, teachers and health workers to tame the wage bill.

The government will also restrict the extension of contracts of those who are retiring at the age of 60 years.

To cut on travel allowances, the government will explore the use of an electronic card system for all public officers travelling within and outside the country.

"This card would be preloaded with sufficient allowance to be expended by officers travelling on eligible expenditures only," Rotich said.

The CS also announced a new government transport policy being considered by the cabinet that will standardise fleet management and use of fuel cards.

The policy will require all government vehicles to be procured only from local assembly plants.

The CS expressed concerns on the increased pension budget that has shot up to Sh86 billion which he said was unacceptable.

Rotich announced that the pension management will be going forward be moved to the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).

The CS said a new national pension policy will be rolled out in 2020.

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