On Tuesday, John Mbadi, the bookish Treasury chief, announced that civil servants gobble up a staggering Sh960 billion every year as salaries and allowances.
The decision to highlight the matter seems motivated by an attempt to get the budget as a national discussion with the hope of getting a grip on the huge public spending.
As the chief accountant of the government, he might as well start by establishing the true number of civil servants on his payroll because we are in a country where ghost workers rule the roost.
A bloated bureaucracy, at this rate, is a strain on the long-suffering citizens whose taxes must pay civil servants.
Mbadi will be aware that the well-connected elite have converted the civil service into a cash cow. They collect bribes in exchange for jobs at just about every level.
Our elite have also turned jobs in the civil service into an avenue for dumping unqualified friends and relatives, and it is obvious that even as the government spends nearly a trillion shillings every year, there is hardly any justification for the billions wasted.
The civil service, as presently constituted, is in desperate need of an overhaul and review of perks.
We cannot spend a quarter of the budget to pay salaries and expect economic growth by starving roads, health, education and agriculture of cash.
Quote of the day: “What a pity that I am not an honest man!” —French novelist Maurice Leblanc died on November 6, 1941.
