Remove 25 counties - Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo tells Building Bridges team

Scrape off 25 counties - Building Bridges team told

Authors:

Miriam Mwende

May 27, 2019 8:43 AM

Counties should be slashed in half

Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya during a recent appearance at Parliament (Twitter)

Maintaining 22 counties will be more practical for Kenya as opposed to the current 47, a new proposal to the Building Bridges team has outlined.

The proposal by Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo has recommended the scrapping off of 25 county governments to reduce the government's wage bill.

"The structure is expensive and holds back the country from achieving its development goals.

Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo during a past meeting with the Council of Governors (Twitter) Pulse Live Kenya

"We can do with 22 counties and reduce the number of independent commissions and offices. We can have two commissioners for each commission who can even work part-time," Ms Odhiambo recommended.

The Controller of Budget further suggested to the task-force that salaries given to politicians should also be reduced.

Proposal to have 14 counties

Ms Odhiambo's proposal adds to mounting calls to reduce the number of public offices in Kenya that inflate the government's expenditure on salaries.

Council of Elders national chairman Michael Ndung'u also proposed to have only 14 counties, an idea that has also been propagated by Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

"We can have Coast, Lower Eastern, Nairobi, Lower Central, Upper Central, Central Rift Valley, Lower Rift Valley, Upper Nyanza, Lower Nyanza, Lower Western and North Eastern," Ndung'u proposed.