By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
President William Ruto has hinted at plans to shut down government parastatals that have been making losses.
The President said his administration will not keep pumping money into parastatals that do not add value to the Kenyans.
Addressing parastatal Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and chairpersons on prioritizing efficiency, and curbing pilferage, wastage, theft and corruption, the Head of State said once those institutions are closed, workers will be moved to other government organizations.
“Those institutions that are making losses and have no plans and intentions of doing anything. We will shut them down,” Ruto said.
“We will get employees to go and work somewhere else so that we stop making losses,” he added.
The Kenya Kwanza administration has over the last few months identified several state parastatals which are not performing as expected.
Initially, the plan was to privatize some of them. The plan however faced opposition from some quarters despite the Cabinet approving it.
However, in the latest pronouncement, the Head of State is clear that no loss-making entity will be allowed to continue using up public funds with no returns.
He challenged heads of such organizations to voluntarily come out and offer that their companies be closed.
“I want some of those institutions to volunteer and tell us to close them so that we don’t keep losing money. We have to be honest with ourselves,” Ruto said.
In addition, the President noted that he did not win the seat to fill up a vacant position and earn a salary but to steer the agenda of changing the country.
“I am president today by God’s grace and I did not become president to earn a salary or fill up the position. We must change our country,” he insisted.
The meeting with CEOs and chairpersons of the various state organizations was as part of planning for the next fiscal year’s budgeting process.