Counties are slowly turning into “employment bureaus” as they spend a staggering Sh38.69 billion on salaries in only three months, a new report has shown.
The latest report by the Controller of Budget (CoB) indicated that out of the Sh55.68 billion available to counties to spend between July and September, at least 70 per cent of the amount went to payment of salaries, wages and allowances to their staff, starving the devolved units of funds for development.
The expenditure on personnel emoluments was more than five times what was spent on development programmes by the 47 counties, which was reported at Sh6.71 billion.
According to the County Governments’ Budget Implementation Review for the first quarter of the current financial year, counties spent Sh48.96 billion on recurrent expenditure. Taking the lion’s share of the recurrent expenditure was personnel emoluments at Sh38.69 billion while operations and maintenance took Sh10.28 billion.
During the reporting period, some 10 counties did not report any expenditure on development programmes. They are Baringo, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Kajiado, Kisii, Lamu, Nairobi, Nyandarua, Tana River, Uasin Gishu and West Pokot counties.
A November 2023 report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) put the total workforce across the counties at 184,876, with Nairobi County having the highest number at 13,513. It was followed by Kakamega (7,087), Bungoma (6,477), Kisii (5,965), Machakos (5,777), Mombasa (5,739) and Nakuru (5,681).
According to the report, the 47 counties had employed at least 67,974 new staff between 2016 and 2023. However, the numbers are more, according to figures from the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).
According to CRA, the number of those employed in counties steadily increased from 94,700 in 2013 to 217,300 in 2022; an increase of 122,600 in a period of 10 years.
The Commission stated that in the 10 years of devolution—between the fiscal year ended June 2014 and June 2023—county governments had collectively received Sh3.62 trillion. Of this amount, Sh1.21 trillion had been spent on personal emoluments.
Staff pay gobbled up over 41 per cent of total expenditure, but in some counties the figure was as high as 62 per cent of the budget, violating the legally set limit of 35 per cent of total realised revenue.
In the financial year ended June 2022, counties spent Sh190.11 billion on emoluments, which was 43.6 per cent of the realised revenue of Sh427.47 billion, despite warnings by the Auditor-General and CoB on the ballooning counties’ wage bill.
CoB Margaret Nyakang’o last year revealed that some counties spend as high as 70 per cent of their budget on salaries, wages and allowances, denying the people funds for development.
According to the report tabled before the Senate Finance committee, the Governor Simba Arati-led Kisii County was the biggest offender, spending 70 per cent of its budget on emoluments in the financial year ended June 2023. Dr Nyakang’o pointed out that the aggregate county expenditure on compensation of employees against total expenditure was 45.5 per cent during the period under review.
Other high spenders on the wage bill were Kiambu (64.6 per cent), Garissa (61.4 per cent), Machakos (60 per cent), Nyeri (57.3 per cent) and Tharaka-Nithi (56.9 per cent).
Some 11 counties spent between 50 and 60 per cent of their total expenditures on compensation of employees. They are Meru, Murang’a, Nakuru, Taita-Taveta, Nyamira, Kisumu, Mombasa, Laikipia, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi and Nyeri.
“This is a going concern as most counties are technically insolvent after paying salaries and settling their pending bills,” said Senate County Public Accounts Committee chairperson and Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’.
During the third national wage bill conference in April, President William Ruto raised concerns about a bloated wage bill, whose share of total revenue, he noted, had increased from 35 per cent to 47 per cent.
“We are way above [what the law recommends]. We need a conversation so that those of us who earn salaries are responsible and we can reduce our wage bill and free more resources to create jobs for our young people,” he said.
During the 6th devolution Conference in Kirinyaga County in 2019, former President Uhuru Kenyatta slammed governors for spending county funds on salaries and personal benefits at the expense of development.
“In the fiscal year ended June 2018, our county governments spent approximately 87.3 per cent of their entire budgets on recurrent expenditure. This left a meagre 12.7 per cent for development,” said Mr Kenyatta.
Governors have blamed the situation on inheriting staff from the defunct local authorities and the national government for the bloated workforce.
Council of Governors (CoG) Vice-Chairperson Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri) said counties’ public wage bill has been growing due to the increased demand for service delivery in health and education, leading to a subsequent rise in the number of employees. He pointed out that the function of early childhood development education (ECDE)and vocational training centres were devolved but none was funded.
The Nyeri governor added that hospitals, for instance, are operating at 45 per cent efficiency because counties cannot afford to hire the required medical workers in the level 4 and 5 hospitals. He said the numbers will increase further once all the 14 devolved functions are released to counties by the national government.
The county boss said that counties are still in formative stages because functions that are constitutionally supposed to have been devolved are still being released to counties, citing an example of the library function devolved last financial year that came with an added workforce.
“How can we reduce the numbers when our hospitals still require more nurses, doctors, more medicare personnel? Are you aware that our hospitals in Kenya have less than 50 oncologists? There are counties that have yet to hire ECDE teachers,” said Mr Kahiga.
“So, what we must do is redefine what is ‘development’. According to current definitions, hiring ECDE teachers is not a development vote. It is considered a recurrent expenditure and development has been narrowed down to brick and mortar,” he added.
CoG Chief Executive Officer Mary Mwiti added that counties are governments and there is no government that can be run without human resources as it forms a critical component.
She concurred with Mr Kahiga that unbundling of devolved functions is not yet over and therefore the human resource counties have will grow as a result of the other functions that will be unbundled, costed and transferred.
“The question you should be asking is the nexus between devolution and the national government wage bill, which continues to increase exponentially even after devolving 14 functions. With the growth of functions and services, the more human resources will be required,” said Ms Mwiti.
