Nairobi – In an effort to reduce the country`s soaring wage bill Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced he and his deputy William Ruto would be taking a 20-percent pay cut and ministers’ salaries will be reduced by 10 percent.
Pay cuts will take place “with immediate effect,” Kenyatta said in a speech on Friday, adding that the current spending levels were unsustainable.
A limit on foreign travel is also expected to take place and only essential trips would be undertaken, according to Kenyatta. “Wastage in my government will be significantly reduced,” he said.
“We are spending 400 billion shillings ($4.6 billion, 3.3 billion euros) every year paying salaries; it leaves us only from our own resources a figure of 200 billion shillings to transform Kenya,” Kenyatta said.
“This is why we are saying that is the ratio which is not sustainable… We need to deal with this monster if we are to develop this nation.”
Kenyatta urged Kenya`s lawmakers to follow his lead and lower their salaries, ranked among the highest in the world and long a source of discontent among ordinary Kenyans.
“We hope that other arms of government will follow suit and have their salaries reviewed. The MPs have heard and know what Kenyans want,” Kenyatta said.
In 2013 MPs reluctantly took a 40-percent pay cut, bringing their monthly salaries down to around 532,000 shillings ($6,100, 4,400 euros).
The lawmakers had initially voted to give themselves a pay rise, sparking protests from activists, before agreeing to accept the salary reduction ordered by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission in return for other benefits.
If Kenya manages to save, the state would be 5.5 million shillings a year better off.
Nairobi`s minimum wage for a manual labourer is only 8,500 shillings a month.
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