Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday opened the Eleventh
Parliament and outlined the legislative agenda of his government.
President Uhuru Kenyatta
In his speech to the joint session of the Senate and Parliament, the
President said he will form a lean cabinet and streamline agencies to
eliminate overlap of duties.
His statement came hot on the heels of spirited campaigns by a section
of MPs tohave their pay upped. To this endUhuru decried Kenya’s huge
wage bill which stands at Sh458 billion equal to half revenue government
collects annually and said it must be reduced.
President Uhuru warned: “In the current financial year for example the
total estimated wage bill is Kshs 458 billion. This wage bill
at slightly over 12% of our GDP, is well above the internationally
accepted standard of 7% and accounts for almost half of the revenue
collected by Government. This is unsustainable and poses a serious
threat to the funding of important development projects, and has the
potential to severely affect the country¡¦s economic prospects.”
It remains to be seen how MPs will react to his proposals over the four
days when they begin debate on his speech. A section of MPs have since
vowed to stall government legislative agenda if their pay is not hiked.
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