The government appears unable to tame its spending, with revelations that the public service wage bill went up Sh5 billion this year even as the private sector has been forced to offload workers.
Several companies have laid off workers in the last two years, with a majority of them citing a difficult business environment associated with increased taxes.
The Affordable Housing Levy, and the enhanced National Social Security Fund and the Social Health Insurance Fund deductions have raised the cost of labour as employers are required to match what the employees contribute.
As a result, some of the businesses such as G4S, Tile & Carpet, and KK Security, issued redundancy notices. "Due to a decline in production demand, economic challenges and strategic realignment, it has become necessary to downsize operations at our production plant to maintain the company's long-term viability," read the notice by Tile & Carpet dated November, last year.
