David Ndii: Government is wasteful and I'm irritated by it

David Ndii, the chairperson of the President's Economic Advisory Council, at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi on July 7, 2022 during President William Ruto's interview on KTN News. [Samson Wire, Standard]

David Ndiii, the chairperson of the President's Economic Advisory Council, has said the government is wasteful on resources.

Speaking on Citizen Television on Monday, April 10, Ndii said the current cash crunch that the government is experiencing is as a result of imprudent use of revenue.

"The government is very wasteful. There is no single day that I am not irritated by not just how wasteful it is, but also how deliberate and unbothered people [in the government] are in wasting the funds," Ndii said on Monday Report show.

To remedy the situation and avert further wastage, Ndii proposed that the Auditor-General's office be empowered to flag embezzlement when it happens.

"There is nothing anyone can do [currently] to stop the wastage. No institution or administrations can help change the situation, but what can be done is come up with systems that can try and put value for money, and also strengthen the Auditor-General's office so that it can do more on value for money," he said.

The economist further said that government's prudent use of resources won't necessarily mean that the economic situation in the country would improve instantly.

"If we focus 100 per cent on reducing wastage, the money [saved] won't have the economic impact that we are aiming to achieve. The [direct] correlation between government spending and economic impact is little. Economic improvement depends heavily on government policies, and not necessarily how the government budgets," he said.

Ndii gave an example of President Mwai Kibaki's tenure, during which the country recorded significant economic improvement. The economist said despite the economic growth, Kibaki's government still witnessed high levels of wastage.

"If the government fights every battle, it will [definitely] lose. Even Kibaki, at some point, said: '30 per cent of the money is being wasted. So, just focus on what you are able to do [with the remaining 70 per cent]'," said Ndii.

The remarks by the chairperson of the president's economic council comes as Kenya grapples with difficulties in paying civil servants' salaries.

President Ruto on Tuesday, April 11 admitted that it was the first time in Kenya's history that civil servants' salaries had delayed to almost mid-month, citing huge debts and not borrowing to fund the wage bill as reasons for the unprecedented situation.

Salaries and debts usually consume nearly 80 per cent of revenue collected by the government.

Between July 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023 the government collected Sh1.83 trillion, with recurrent expenditure, largely salaries, gobbling up Sh727 billion (40 per cent of total revenue), while debts consuming Sh694 billion (38 per cent of total revenue).

The government needs at least Sh50 billion monthly for civil servants' salaries and Sh8 billion monthly for their pension.

Ndii, in the Monday Citizen TV interview, projected that by early next week, all civil servants would have been paid their dues.