Cut Wages Give Us More Development, Citizens Tell Governor
Updated on: May 12, 2019
Citizens attending three public participation forums in Laikipia North, Laikipia East and Laikipia West sub-counties have beseeched HE Governor Ndiritu Muriithi to trim down the huge wage bill and channel more resources to development.
About 7,000 citizens who turned up in the three forums engaged the government officers on various matters.
The citizens, speaking at the different forums, expressed concern over the rising recurrent expenditure, especially on salaries, which seem to compromise the rate of availing more resources to enable government provide water, better roads, better healthcare, smart towns.
The county governments wage bill stands at 56 percent of its budget while expenditure on development is at less than 22 percent. The law stipulates that the wage bill should not take up more than 35 percent of budget while development should not fall below 30 percent.
Senior county managers led by Governor Muriithi held general staff meeting in the three sub-counties and had citizen engagements at Kiwanja Ndege in Doldold, Nanyuki Bus Park and DCs Grounds in Nyahururu.
In line with the county governments continuous improvement, the forums were unique in that it incorporated two sessions; one with the staff and another with the citizens.
The meetings for the third quarter of the year ending June 30, were held on May 8th 2019 (Doldol, Laikipia North), May 9th 2019 (Nanyuki, Laikipia East) and May 10th, 2019 (Nyahururu, Laikipia West).
Holding of quarterly general staff meeting is a culture embedded in the County Government of Laikipia which aims at motivating staff and reviewing the progress of service delivery to citizens.
Four staff members were given Kshs100,000 each as spot award for going out their way to execute their duties of serving citizens. Part of the ongoing public sector reforms includes motivating the serving, staff development among others.
Staff of all cadres had ample time to engage with senior managers on diverse issues progress in service delivery, continuous improvement and public sector reforms.
