- Members of the county emphasised that the ballooned wage bill needs to be the executive's priority if indeed it has affected operations and development agenda.
- The full house plenary, on Thursday, saw the ward reps wondering why the governor had not acted immediately on the wage bill problem.
Image: HANDOUT.
Kajiado MCAs have called on Governor Joseph Lenku to furnish them with the audit report on the status of county human resources, earlier done by external partners.
Members of the county emphasised that the ballooned wage bill needs to be the executive's priority if indeed it has affected operations and development agenda.
In October 2022, Lenku pledged to revoke the irregular staff promotion and conduct an employee headcount to tame the bloated wage bill.
In that same month, last year, Lenku took the lead in a staff audit after the county public service board contracted the Institute of Human Resource Management to assist in carrying out the exercise.
At the time Lenku said the biometric registration exercise would aid in verifying and evaluating the number of staff employed by the county government.
"We took a deliberate yet very significant step to address the critical challenges amounting from human resource management through a staff audit,” Lenku said, in October last year.
The full house plenary, on Thursday, saw the ward reps wondering why the governor had not acted immediately on the wage bill problem months after he received the report.
Ten days after Lenku commissioned a private agency to audit the staff, the report revealed several employees were earning salaries without working.
The Institute of Human Resource Management audit further revealed a damning report that included the promotion of workers of the county without commensurate academic qualifications while some have stagnated in one grade for over ten years.
While launching the exercise, Lenku had pledged to revoke irregular staff promotions and conduct an employee headcount to tame the bloated wage bill.
The auditor recommended urgent massive cleanup of the county’s human resource system.
“It has been discovered that, over the last ten years, there are employees who earn a salary without stepping into an office or doing any job,” Lenku said after the release of the report.
Still, Lenku said, there are some employees who, in bizarre findings, share one bank account.
The damning report revealed that other workers have had their salaries and allowances adjusted in the payroll without following due process.
The Majority Chief Whip MCA Stephen Ngatho (Olkeri Ward) said on Monday it is important that the report is submitted to the Assembly for interrogation.
The Minority Leader MCA Isaac Kiresian lauded the governor on the audit but added that there was a need to expedite the process.
Ewuaso Oo'nkidong'i MCA, Joseph Toris, blamed the executive saying someone should take responsibility for the matter.
Toris wondered why a larger percentage of people were in senior positions.
MCA Naisiae Karia (Nominated) said that the governor's promise to act on the wage bill needed more statistics and time frame.
Keekonyokie ward MCA Amos Solitei said that the governor's address should have pointed out the action plans rather than the problems bedevilling the county.
For instance, Solitei wondered who had employed excess staff yet the County Public Service Board should be autonomous to carry out its mandate.
The MCAs also called on the executive to implement the enacted bills.