Farmers Party leader Irungu Nyakera has urged the Kenya Kwanza administration to contain its spending and lower the cost of living.
Speaking to the Star and later posting on social media on Sunday, Nyakera said the government should address the issue of rising government spending by looking into the output of the parastatals.
He said Kenya has about 260 parastatals, "most of which are of zero social and economic benefit to the public" and are being funded by the Treasury every financial year.
He said most government institutions are not profitable and the government should seek a way out to avoid wasting public money.
"We have to cut spending, stop running budget deficits, stop any new projects and use money to pay pending bills, support the shilling by restricting imports, reduce wage bill, implement parastatal reforms, and put the economy before politics," Nyakera said.
He said the national government must address the issue of the high wage bill.
Nyakera said Kenya's biggest problem is not taxes, but spending.
"We really know how to waste money," he said.
He urged the government to relook into its wage bill, which is currently more than Sh500 billion and is growing due to fat allowances for civil servants.
In 2022, the public wage bill ate up to 46.3 per cent of government revenues against the provisions of The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012, which requires that the wage bill shall not be more than 35 per cent of revenues.
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