Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo is planning to weed out ghost workers and cartels in the county government.
Addressing his cabinet on Tuesday, the county chief said all is not well with the county payroll, and he wants it cleaned in the shortest time possible.
In the recent past, the payroll has been brewing controversies in the county, leading to the Controller of Budget not approving payment of health workers among other employees in the county.
During the closed-door meeting that went on for over five hours, Ottichilo demanded to know the number of workers in every department.
“Chief officers should go through payrolls in their departments and come up with a list of workers in their station and the salaries they earn,” the county chief ordered.
He said this will help him to weed out all ghost workers in his administration.
An official, who did not want to be named, told the Star that most of the departments in the county have excess workers.
In the meeting, Ottichilo directed the director of human resource Millicent Madara not to respond to any verbal communication.
“Make sure that any information that comes to your desk is in written form and signed by the individuals so that we can trace them if need arises,” Ottichilo said.
Madara had in the past told the assembly the county has over 1,000 health workers, a statement that was dismissed by health executive, who said there were 726 health workers.
“Some workers have died, others have signed willingly to age limit and others have quit the service for their personal reasons, thus why we want these 149 to curb the gap left,” Health executive Amos Kutwa told the assembly.
Kutwa said the over 1,000 workers being referred to do not exist, saying the payroll had to be audited immediately.
