Kenyan President Forces Through Worker Wage Hike—Because Printing Shillings Solves Everything

Nairobi pulls the classic ’throw money at the problem’ maneuver as labor costs rise. Productivity metrics? Pfft—who needs ’em when you’ve got populist policies and an election cycle looming.

Workers cheer while economists facepalm—another Band-Aid on Kenya’s structural economic wounds. But hey, at least the IMF will have something to tut-tut about at their next cocktail party.

Speaking to workers at the Uhuru Gardens Grounds during this year’s national Labour Day celebrations, the president pointed out that many employers nationwide have not followed his directive.

President Ruto instructed the Ministry of Labor to collaborate with Felix Koskei, the Head of Public Service, to guarantee that all employers follow the directive. He alluded to raising the minimum wage after the “next agreement is put in place.”

There was discussion after we decided to raise wages by 6% last year, and some employers haven’t used the agreed-upon 6%.

Ruto declared, “It is not right; it is not acceptable.. “I am instructing the ministry to collaborate with the Head of Public Service to guarantee that all employers implement the 6 percent pay increase that we decided upon last year and to promptly start drafting the next agreement so that we can move it along in the future.”

Ruto also declared that he had instructed the Labor Ministry and all other pertinent organizations to guarantee that even workers with outsourced contracts can freely join national trade unions and take advantage of collective bargaining frameworks.