SAM'S SENSE: Tax for service - the gap in between

Next week, the leadership of the country will converge at the Bomas of Kenya to deliberate on strategies towards reducing the national wage bill. At a time the country spends 47 per cent of its revenue to pay salaries and allowances, a national conversation could not have been more timely.

It is expected that the conference will be treated to statistical presentations on where the more than Ksh.1.1 trillion goes. For the rest of us, I guess we can only present our wishes; here is mine.

First, analysis by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) shows that out of the total wage bill, 48 per cent comprises allowances; be they remunerative or facilitative. Remunerative allowances are such as housing allowance, commuter allowance and leave allowance. Facilitative allowances include the daily subsistence allowances or per diems that many public officers cherish in their line of work.

In the financial year ended June 2023, the government of Kenya spent Ksh.37.8 billion, of which Ksh.20 billion was at the national government and the balance at the counties. Of the Ksh.20 billion spent by the national government, 50 per cent was taken by the political class; that is Members of Parliament and their employees and State offices in the Executive. The remainder of Ksh.9.6 billion went to the rest of the public sector.

The country’s national payroll has consistently been growing to now stand a few thousands shy of one million public officers. Part of the increment has been occasioned by regime changes where new office holders hire new staff to help them deliver in their mandate, while the serving ones remain somewhere in government. Now, the SRC admits that this is a problem. Chairperson Lyn Mengich says consistently there is duplication of roles in public offices. But the wage bill is high.

The wage bill national conference next week will be attended by some of those officials responsible for this.

The SRC, in its conference preparatory notes, indicates that the productivity of the Kenyan public service ranks poorly globally and on the continent. That in the latest ranking, it was position 153 out 189 globally. It was position 26 in Africa. Yet, Kenya has the best human capital index, meaning the best human resources on the continent. And so, if the productivity levels are so dismal, why pay a trillion shillings for it?

You see, we live in a world where increasingly, more and more people are taking what should be public services into their hands. A significant number of Kenyans now take their children to private schools for their discomfort in the public sector institutions. They now take their families to private hospitals and independent consultants when they fall sick. They now privately drive or ride to work for they cannot rely on the public transport system. Those that cannot afford the private institutions are forced to depend on the public sector and hope there won’t be a workers strike.

Yet, these group of Kenyans pay taxes without fail. From pay as you earn to VAT, and other consumption taxes. And when they attempt to start a side business, there are levies and taxes they must begin to process. Because there is a high wage bill to be sustained.

At that conference next week, I hope there will be time to reflect on the quality of services that government renders to Kenyans. I hope there will be a session to reflect on the now more expensive corruption in accessing government services. That the recently released bribery catalogue will form part of the deliberations.

If you plant a maize seed, you’d expect to harvest maize. If you pay tax, you should at least get services and of good quality. And to the citizens, paying tax is not enough. It is not a mark of generosity where you give without expecting anything in return. There ought to be a measure of reciprocity and I hope the third national wage bill conference will pay attention to this. Failure to do so defeats the sense of a government of the people, by the people.