THE AGONIZING WAGE BILL DEBATE GRILLING MR PRESIDENT

Mar 12, 2014 Emmanuel Opiyo Opinions, Peoplespeak 0

Economist have made statements, Our leaders have refused to embrace the symbol of patriotism led by the president’s team of politicians, others have also added political statements to allude to or against the proposition of a salary deduction and the wage bill has suddenly become a hot topic to the Kenyan people.

The need to build Kenya into a great country has brought this debate to the fore and neither citizen nor citizen president can run against the salary debate wind that is moving across the country psychologically tempting the top and low earners to feel patriotic or philanthropic depending entirely on belief.

So what is this wage bill? Why is it such an issue when the only person it is affecting is the government and the policies they intend to implement? What burden does it have on the Kenyan economy given it stretches out to over 400 billion yet we only collect a revenue of close to a trillion; the Ministry of Finance always working with a Deficit budget.

The President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto during the week jointly compelled their team of Cabinet Secretaries to a noble course which according to the constitution remains Unconstitutional however patriotic it looks. Again how would the implementation of the said deduction work? How would they go about implementing the deduction of less than 20 officers including those not in the full agreement and would the amount collected be substantive enough to enable Kenyans grow.

So my advice to the President, the Salaries and Remuneration Commission , the Legislature Cabinet in charge of making such decisions is to follow up on the four eyed rule of cost cutting and national development:-

Cut down on wastages including cutting out the ghost workers infiltrating the Counties and the National Government

Reduce miscellaneous top management allowances not required by the exchequer

Find a way to implement the Presidents and his Deputy patriotic gesture of cutting down there salaries although unconstitutional.

Tackle Corruption my friend! Tackle Corruption my friend!!!

After handling the above try to build on the Kenyan strengths provided by the resources we have to reduce cost of living and production; in brief invest in Commercial Agriculture and help Kenya take care of itself.

While the Wage Bill acts as part problem for the exchequer and the government’s. The greatest problem for the people is the cost of essential products and the need to increase local supply, providing avenues for substitutes, reducing production cost that are caused by government policies, cartels, backward trade agreements and Corruption.

Invest in production, manufacturing and mining believing in the human resource available in the country, making use of the greatest resource Kenya has including land, good weather plus a population with deliberate high I.Q.

Salaries to the public can be equated to purchasing power and the purchasing power for citizens has now been eroded, so a deduction adds no value and an increase by 20 percent of the basic pay also sorts out little of their problems.

To add salt to an already wounded Kenyan hand meant to provide for their families, the government has all the tools and goodwill to provide a corruption free environment but there is present lack of foresight and inaction make them more untrustworthy.

So while Our Mr. President and Deputy think of a way to finance the government without necessarily getting more loans and selling more bonds dare I say invest in what your people can eat first, valuing the level of income and purchasing power then later think about the rest.

All the best Mr. President and loyal Mr. Deputy and may you think of those living beneath your means. Amen