Kenya: Opposition At Odds With Ruto Over Retrenchment Of Civil Servants

By Samuel Ouma [caption id="attachment_105673" align="alignnone" width="715"] Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi[/caption] Kenya’s opposition, Azimio La Umoja-One-Kenya coalition, has warned President William Ruto against laying off civil servants. In a statement on Tuesday, the National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said the public servants will not be retrenched while the government has appointed 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs), positions not recognized by the Constitution. “We repeat. No civil servant is going to be retrenched while Ruto is busy hiring CASs and other personnel the country doesn’t need. Not under our watch,” said MP Opiyo Wandayi. Wandayi said the expenditures that must be cut are the appointment of CASs and non-priority spending. “Ruto must cut or completely abolish money spent on political operations disguised as relief food distribution or fundraisers. It makes no sense for a Cabinet or principal secretary to spend Ksh20 million ($149666) on a chopper to distribute Ksh1 million ($7483.4) worth of food. That is a job a chief, assistant chief, or even MCA can do. He added, “It makes no sense for a principal secretary to spend Ksh10 million ($74833) on a chopper to deliver Ksh200,000 ($1496) on a fundraiser. This madness must stop in the interest of austerity.” Raila Odinga-led group also want unnecessary domestic and international travel, conferences and workshops halted. On calls by government officials asking Kenyans to tighten their belts due to the deteriorating economic situation, Wandayi said Kenyans have suffered enough, and the government must offer solutions, not excuses. “Kenyans can’t and won’t tighten their belts any further. They have had enough. Their next available course of action is to force Kenya Kwanza to tighten its belt or force it out,” added Wandayi. Azimio also blamed the current economic situation on rampant corruption within the government, claiming that some taxes collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority have been stolen. “We believe that the many well-known crooks and corrupt officials who have been appointed to key positions by this regime are certainly on a stealing spree. Most of them are thieves by nature. They are termites eating the country from the vantage positions they hold,” stated the Minority Leader. This comes as the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, David Ndii, disclosed that the government is considering laying off public employees due to the growing pay bill.