Some 200 recently retrenched employees of the Wajir county assembly have accused the House public service board of terminating their services illegally.
The board said it was taking cost-cutting measures to tame a ballooning wage bill.
But, speaking to the Star on the phone yesterday, some of the staff said it was a politically motivated “witch-hunt”.
“Some of us were targeted because we come from tribes seen as politically insignificant,” ex-employee Mohamed Hassan said.
He said some of the staff got their dismissal letters on January 12, but the letters were dated November and December last year.
Hassan said the board had recruited close to 300 staff, ignoring the 88-employee ceiling set by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
“This is impunity. They cannot let themselves off the hook when they presided over shambolic recruitment in the first place,” he said.
Another former employee, Abdiweli Osman, said the retrenchment was “unjustified”.
“This caught me by surprise. It was done in complete disregard of the law,” he said.
Sources said the remaining staff were forced to take salary cuts.
Assembly clerk Osman Mohamed, the board secretary, told the Star the retrenchment follows an audit that found the wage bill unsustainable.
“The assembly laid off excess staff to heed the labour laws. Others were sacked because of redundancy,” he said.
“The affected staff were notified on time.”
Mohamed also defended recruitment, which critics said was skewed to satisfy tribal equations.
“You have to look into several issues, including tribal representation,” he said.