The Nakuru County government has embarked on the reduction of its ballooning wage bill.
Speaking during an interview with the Daily Nation, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui said the county will put in place measures to reduce the wage bill.
Kinyanjui claimed that the previous county administration under the leadership of Governor Kinuthia Mbugua had employed too many people which contributed to a ballooning wage bill.
He noted that the current wage bill was eating into the county's development budget, adding that the huge wage bill had nearly paralysed operations.
Nakuru has 4,830 employees on its payroll with the wage bill standing at Sh6 billion, which is 70 per cent of the county’s annual budget.
“The previous county administration had employed too many people who contributed to a ballooning wage bill. Most of the employees were inherited from the defunct municipal council. We have put in place austerity measures aimed at improving our own source revenue and also to reduce the wage bill. We want staff that can deliver on their mandate,” said Kinyanjui.
Governor Kinyanjui said that his administration will employ its own attorney in a bid to cut high legal fees that are paid to lawyers, adding that the county inherited Sh700 million legal fees from the previous administration.
“We are keen to reduce the huge wage bill and avoid unnecessary expenditure. Part of what led to a burgeoning wage bill that we inherited from the previous regime was legal fees,” he added.