Nakuru County government will not reduce its bloated workforce anytime soon despite Governor Kinuthia Mbugua blaming the ballooning wage bill on the many workers on the payroll.
The county, which is struggling to stay afloat on its development agenda, spends nearly Sh5 billion on salaries, which amounts to more than 50% of its total budget.
In a surprise turn of events, Governor Mbugua yesterday announced that although its staff establishment has hit the roof - now standing at 6,000 workers - the county government has no immediate plans to send the excess staff home.
“We cannot sack them at once. I am also one of the 6,000 staff and I would not like to be sacked," the governor said.
"The salary they are getting is not wasted. The workers on the payroll whichever cadre depend on the salary to support their families and in any case being on the payroll and getting monthly salary is not a sin,” said Mbugua.
He added: “Some of the development done in this county is through the salary we pay these workers and therefore we should not look [at] this issue of ballooning wage bill from that perspective.”
He was speaking outside his office when he received drugs worth Sh10 million from the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) chief executive officer Dr John Munyu.
The county chief said that sacking some of the workers with the sole reason of reducing its ballooning wage bill will only lead to poverty among the affected workers.
He said the only way to address the financial burden in the counties, is by the national government increasing its allocation to the counties from 15 to 45%.
He said at the moment, the county government was facing a serious shortage of about 3,000 nurses and the county government will employ the health workers despite the ballooning wage bill.
“In every ward we have a health centre and requires a health worker and this will not stop us from employing more staff.”
Nakuru County inherited close to 4,000 workers from the Nakuru municipal council, Naivasha municipal council, Nakuru County council and Molo town council which has seen the county government spend a huge amount of money salaries.
Due to the huge salary wage bill, the county only spends Sh1 billion for development and an additional Sh1.3 billion to pay the civil servants who were seconded to the county government.