Government to hold national productivity conference in June

Kenya will host its first National Productivity Conference in June 2026, aiming to elevate labour productivity across the public sector and beyond. The event will gather the Executive, Judiciary, Legislature, county governments, state corporations, private sector players, and international partners to discuss ways to raise productivity. SRC chair Sammy Chepkwony stressed that progress requires moving beyond wage-bill containment toward efficiency gains, noting Kenya’s wage-bill-to-revenue ratio of 41% in 2025, up from 55% in 2020. He pointed to a global productivity gap, with Kenya at about $7,750 per worker annually versus Singapore’s $117,500, and Kenya ranking 142 of 189 globally. The conference follows a summit chaired by President William Ruto that urged the SRC and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to pursue this shift, and building on wage-bill reforms that have yielded slower gains recently.