President William Ruto has stated that the government will not borrow money to pay the delayed salaries of civil servants.
“I know we had an issue with delayed salaries. It is the first time that we are having delayed salaries but it is also the first time that we are having such monumental debts. I want to assure the country that is managed,” the president said.
“All I assure the country is the commitment I made that we are not going to borrow money to spend on recurrent expenditure including salaries. That is the position of the government of Kenya.”
Speaking at the launch of the Performance Contracting Report at KICC, Ruto assured Kenyans that a solution to reduce the debt burden was underway.
“We are well on course and we have to live within our means,” he affirmed but did not offer a concrete solution to the government’s crisis management approach.
This comes as civil servants prepare to go on strike to press the government to pay salary arrears, a move that could destabilise the public sector.
Thousands of government employees went for Easter holidays without March salaries and some county workers are owed up to three months’ worth of pay.
According to reports, Treasury requires an average of Ksh 50 billion monthly for civil servants’ salaries and another Ksh 8 billion for payment of pensions.
