The Nairobi City County government has frozen the recruitment of new staff in the county, including new employees, interns, and casual workers, as a measure to tighten control of its wage bill.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

In a directive to all County Executive Committee members (CECMs) and all County Chief Officers, City Hall noted that new hiring can only be undertaken upon receiving prior approval from the County Treasury.

However, exceptions will be allowed for the replacement of employees lost through natural attrition, provided such replacements are budget-neutral and receive approval from the County Treasury.

"To ensure the wage bill remains within the medium-term targets all new recruitment of employees to fill new positions is halted except for replacements due to natural attrition, which must be budget-neutral and approved by the County Treasury," the directive read.

📌 What You Need to Know

As seen by this publication, the directive is contained in Circular No. 4/2025, dated August 18, 2025, as part of the guidelines for preparing the county's Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget for the 2026/27 to 2028/29 financial period.

According to the circular, Governor Johnson Sakaja administration further directed that any changes to personnel remuneration and benefits must be supported by advice from the Human Resources function and approved by the County Treasury after confirmation that funding is available.

"Resource allocation for new staff o r upgrades requires prior approval from the County Treasury . Changes in Personnel remuneration and benefits within Sectors must be supported by the Human Resources advice upon approval from the County Treasury confirming funding.

Also, all personnel emolument allocations must be documented in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Data system (IPPD).

The directive also requires prior Treasury approval before resources can be allocated for new staff or the upgrading of existing employees.

"In view of this, STWGs should not allocate resources for new recruitments of staff, interns and casuals or upgrading of staff unless there is prior approval from the County Treasury," the circular stated.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke