[Kenya] Streamlining payroll management as alternative to layoffs

In Kenya, the federal government has put a stop to plans for public service job losses and decided to focus on streamlining payroll management instead, The Eastleigh Voice reports.

The National Treasury announced that job cuts are no longer on the table as the country battles high unemployment, despite the public service workforce reaching 1.05 million in June.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi reportedly confirmed that a new HR management information system will replace layoffs as the strategy for controlling its wage bill.

“With the new human resource management information system that we are putting in place, we are going to manage the wage bill at least at the rate at which it is today because I don't see the government having a strategy of or bringing retrenchment as a strategy,” he said. 

Mr Mbadi added that cutting jobs would worsen unemployment, something Kenya cannot afford.

The new system will reportedly merge fragmented payrolls across national government departments and counties, targeting ghost workers and other inefficiencies.

Mr Mbadi highlighted early successes from similar initiatives, stating that the Ministry of Education saved Sh4 billion through better monitoring of capitation funds.

“Just by the Ministry of Education using a system to check on capitation, it has led to reports that I've got Sh4 billion savings on capitalisation. This is an example of the savings we are looking at,” he said.

The government had previously planned sweeping layoffs targeting support staff, casual employees, and those with falsified academic credentials.

Currently, support staff account for approximately 702,950 of Kenya’s 1.05 million public service workers, far exceeding the recommended 30 per cent ratio.

“The composition of the establishment itself is problematic in that it is seriously skewed towards support staff at the expense of technical and other core-function staff. Clearly, 83 per cent of state departments have violated the recommended ratio of technical staff to support services,” President William Ruto said.

Despite earlier warnings from the Public Service Cabinet Secretary, Moses Kuria, that a major restructuring would include job cuts, the Treasury insists that the new payroll system will proceed.

Mr Mbadi reportedly emphasised that the plan will integrate all national government entities by December 31, 2025, and counties by June 2026.

“We can make our public sector more efficient and manage our payroll so that we eliminate ghost workers in our payroll, and that is why we are integrating the payroll now, with the resistance, of course, from some quarters, but they are not going to succeed,” he said.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice

(Quotes via original reporting)

In Kenya, the federal government has put a stop to plans for public service job losses and decided to focus on streamlining payroll management instead, The Eastleigh Voice reports.

The National Treasury announced that job cuts are no longer on the table as the country battles high unemployment, despite the public service workforce reaching 1.05 million in June.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi reportedly confirmed that a new HR management information system will replace layoffs as the strategy for controlling its wage bill.

“With the new human resource management information system that we are putting in place, we are going to manage the wage bill at least at the rate at which it is today because I don't see the government having a strategy of or bringing retrenchment as a strategy,” he said. 

Mr Mbadi added that cutting jobs would worsen unemployment, something Kenya cannot afford.

The new system will reportedly merge fragmented payrolls across national government departments and counties, targeting ghost workers and other inefficiencies.

Mr Mbadi highlighted early successes from similar initiatives, stating that the Ministry of Education saved Sh4 billion through better monitoring of capitation funds.

“Just by the Ministry of Education using a system to check on capitation, it has led to reports that I've got Sh4 billion savings on capitalisation. This is an example of the savings we are looking at,” he said.

The government had previously planned sweeping layoffs targeting support staff, casual employees, and those with falsified academic credentials.

Currently, support staff account for approximately 702,950 of Kenya’s 1.05 million public service workers, far exceeding the recommended 30 per cent ratio.

“The composition of the establishment itself is problematic in that it is seriously skewed towards support staff at the expense of technical and other core-function staff. Clearly, 83 per cent of state departments have violated the recommended ratio of technical staff to support services,” President William Ruto said.

Despite earlier warnings from the Public Service Cabinet Secretary, Moses Kuria, that a major restructuring would include job cuts, the Treasury insists that the new payroll system will proceed.

Mr Mbadi reportedly emphasised that the plan will integrate all national government entities by December 31, 2025, and counties by June 2026.

“We can make our public sector more efficient and manage our payroll so that we eliminate ghost workers in our payroll, and that is why we are integrating the payroll now, with the resistance, of course, from some quarters, but they are not going to succeed,” he said.

Source: The Eastleigh Voice

(Quotes via original reporting)