The National Treasury will roll out an Integrated Payroll System and a Single Treasury Account by the end of this month as part of a wider public finance reform aimed at eliminating ghost workers, sealing revenue leakages and enforcing fiscal discipline.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi said the move will integrate salaries for all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and county assemblies.
County executives, he added, have been given a month grace period to comply with the new directive asking all the devolved units to move with speed and migrate to the new system.
“At the end of this month, we will pay salaries through the integrated system for all MDAs and county assemblies. The county executives are still giving excuses, but I am telling them, if we have to give you more time, it is only one month,” Mbadi warned.
He said the integrated payroll would abolish multiple payrolls, most of them manual, which are to blame for diversion and loss of public funds.
The CS, speaking at the 4th Kenya Affordable Housing Conference in Kisumu over the weekend, said the payroll integration was part of a broader reform agenda to cut wastage and improve service delivery.
He confirmed that the government had already rolled out mandatory electronic procurement for all public entities.
“All procurement must now be done on the e-platform. There is a lot of pushback, a lot of excuses, people giving their situations as to why they cannot use that platform. My simple answer to them: You must use it. There is no two ways about it,” Mbadi said.
“When we hear people crying about a system, then you should know you are on the right track,” he added.
On the economy, Mbadi said there were signs of steady improvement despite past challenges.
“The fundamentals are out there and they look positive and progressive. We are seeing the interest rates have started falling. That will make finances available to the private sector,” he said.
The CS added that the government was committed to paying pending bills, some dating back to 2005.
“I just want to ask Kenyans to believe in us, remain patient, and the results will be achieved in due course,” he said.
By Chris Mahandara
