- Arati expressed shock that many of the staff recruited to the service do not have the requisite academic papers.
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The county chief said the ballooning wage bill would continue to affect development unless checked.
Image: @SIMBAARATI
Authorities in Kisii on Wednesday pledged not to pay contractors who had been hired in an opaque manner by the former county administration.
Governor Simba Arati said only qualified contractors would receive funds as his administration moves to address the issue of pending bills.
"All contractors and suppliers who transacted with the county government within the legal procurement framework will be paid. Those who [did] not, my government will not honour their claimed payment," Arati during his first address at the county assembly.
The governor said he would scale down the bloated workforce so as to spare funds to enable him execute his development agenda.
The move follows a recent head count which revealed excess staff —in hundreds — who consume much of the National Treasury disbursement to the devolved unit.
"Our county public service is bloated, the amount of resources my administration is now spending on recurrent expenditure compared to what is projected to implement our ambitious development plans is too meagre," he said.
The county chief said the ballooning wage bill would continue to affect development unless checked.
Arati expressed shock that many of the staff recruited to the service do not have the requisite academic papers.
"How do you explain instances where some staff are on a permanent and pensionable basis on the basis of an ID as qualification let alone work experience?" he posed.
He cited the recruitment of excessive drivers into the county as one of the issues that point to shady deals by shadowy cartels to derail operations.
Arati further said there were some powerful individuals who had been exploiting junior officers to fleece the county of funds. Already, millions of shillings have since been lost in fictitious payments.
"This is a cancer we must uproot. This is a clear pattern of an administration run on cronyism and personal favour. This must stop," the county chief said.
The staff audit reveals shocking information of workers with shared accounts and possible tax evasion.
"There are 24 similar cases, 182 cases of people with the same ID numbers but with different tax pins; 1029 cases of duplicated arrear payments and 179 cases of multiple arrears, among other disturbing findings," the governor said.
"I want to assure our people that that was a deliberate effort aimed at strengthening our human resource capacity," he told the ward reps.
Arati said his administration would in the next few days outline measures aimed at realising a functioning workforce.
"Some decisions will be painful and will have far reaching ramifications but necessary if we recognise the demands before us," he said.
Some of the measures would require the intervention of the assembly to be implemented.
Arati repeated his commitment to protect water catchment areas and also address garbage woes facing the county.
(edited by Amol Awuor)