Although the productivity of public servants is difficult to measure, they still earn more than the private sector in Kenya, a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.
The lender has therefore advised the East African country to slash the salaries of public servants, noting that having the government workers earn more than those in the private sector is not sustainable.
Data from the 2014 Economic Survey show that while the average salary of the public sector worker has risen over the past five years, that of the private sector has been on a downward path.
“The authorities also noted that the government had launched a process of staff rationalisation – to be based on a wage grid that allows comparability with private sector wages,” Business Daily quoted the IMF as saying in the report released after an audit of the Kenyan economy. [eap_ad_2]
Kenya has not disclosed its hiring freeze plans, but IMF notes that the plan is already in place in order to contain the wage bill.
But the international lender said it will follow implementation of reforms in the Kenyan civil service.
While the reform may not go down well with workers in the public sector, Head of Private Sector Development Division at the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis, Joseph Kieyah, is in support of the reduction of the public sector wage bill going below that of the private sector.
According to him, in developed countries, the public sector wages is often lower than that of the private sector. Kieyah cited the US, saying that workers prove their worth in the private sector and this should be so also in the public sector. (VENTURES AFRICA) [eap_ad_3]