Fears are rife that the country’s financial situation could degenerate further a day after Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua confirmed to the country of the liquidity crisis the government is facing occasioning delays in paying salaries and other operational expenditures.
Insiders now say among the possible measures the government is likely to resort to include retrenchment to reduce on recurrent expenditures.
Besides delays in paying civil servants salaries, disbursement of cash to county governments has been pending for the last three months risking to collapse service delivery and functioning of the devolved units.
Speaking during a service at PCEA Centre Church in Ngorano, Ruguru Ward, Mathira Constituency, in Nyeri County, the Deputy President said the financial challenges in the country have also affected counties.
“It is true we are having challenges in paying salaries, giving money to governors. Because the handshake government stripped this country, they borrowed money left right and centre. Because we are a responsible government, we have to pay this money,” he said.
Gachagua added that some of the government loans had matured last week, forcing it to pay the debt.
“What we collected the last two weeks was sufficient to pay the loans. What we are collecting this week will pay salaries and other requirements,” he added.
In what manifests a dire situation, most government offices are operating without critical essentials to support day to day office operations like photocopy papers.
“We are in a difficult situation; we are not the ones who borrowed the money but have to pay because it is owed by Kenya. William Ruto cannot run away from those debts even though he did not incur them.” The DP added.
Members of parliament are among the public servants and state officers who are yet to receive their March salaries due to the cash crisis.
The Chairperson of President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors David Ndii also said is as a result of the country’s huge debt.
“I am talking about weekly maturities of domestic debt held by your banks and pension funds (80 per cent of debt service) which would you rather, a haircut on your bank deposits or some delayed payments?” Ndii engaged Twitter users on Saturday, saying that retrenching staff could be among government’s options.