Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, on Monday night, stated that he will be the last to complain about payment amid civil servants' salary payment delays.
Sifuna, in an interview with NTV, said he is privileged to complain about salary payment because Kenyans are going through a lot.
"Kenyans as we speak, most of them have not had a merrier Easter, due to challenges of the high cost of living and more; complaining about not receiving my March salary would be the last thing," he said.
Further, he highlighted the issue of pending bills as a challenge to county governments.
"The issue of payment has affected all the sectors, including counties, the government should hasten and solve it," Sifuna said.
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This comes after the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u warned of further delays in processing salaries for civil servants.
He has claimed that the national government is experiencing financial difficulties due to underwhelming revenue growth and constrained access to capital because of dwindling borrowing capacity.
“The national government is forced to choose between two extremes: high debt financing levels and financial limits brought on by limited access to credit in both the domestic and global financial markets,” he said.
The CS also stated that because of the exchequer's financial situation, government workers from ministries and state agencies will have to wait until April to get their salaries, with most of them taking their Easter vacations unpaid.
Opiyo Wandayi, the minority leader in the National Assembly, demanded an investigation into the Kenya Revenue Authority on April 7 due to delays in wage payments.
To determine what went wrong, he suggested expanding the investigation to include people and systems at the National Treasury and Central Bank of Kenya.
He expressed concern about the fact that revenues are being collected, but no funds are available to pay workers.
“We need to take a close and thorough look at the goings-on at revenue collection points and revenue sources like Kenya Airports Authority, the courts, customs, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), aids and grants and revenue administration in addition to probing government spending,” he stated.
