Jobs at stake as Kitui audit reveals 1,500 workers irregularly hired

It is the end of the road for over 1,500 irregularly hired and non-existent workers who have been gobbling up millions in salaries in Kitui.  

The county human resource audit and rationalisation committee recommends that salaries for 935 ghost workers and 592 irregularly hired workers be stopped.

The committee chaired by human resource expert Dr Florence Muinde was set up by Governor Julius Malombe last November.

Malombe had inherited a huge wage bill from his predecessor, Charity Ngilu, and was looking for ways to understand why the wage bill was so high and how he could tame the problem.

Muinde handed over the staff audit report to Malombe at the latter’s boardroom on Tuesday. She said not only did Kitui have 935 ghost workers but has 592 irregularly employed staff members on the payroll.

Since 2017, the Kitui county wage bill according to Muinde team’s report has ballooned exponentially from Sh2.6 billion to Sh4 billion in 2022.

“The auditor general report for the year ending June 2021 and June 2022 indicates that the county government of Kitui spent 43 per cent and 53.8 per cent respectively of the total receipt for the two years on compensation of employees.

Upon receiving the staff audit report, Governor Malombe pledged to show leadership by taking a hard decision and work with the assembly to ensure the recommendations by Muinde’s team are implemented.

He also called for the support and goodwill of Kitui people, adding  that to efficiently and seamlessly  implement recommendation made by the audit committee, an implementation committee will have to be set up.

Malombe said it was unacceptable that there were 935 ghost worker in Kitui’s payroll causing the county to lose colossal amount of money.

“Calculate the amount of money they have been earning. How many ECDE classrooms could we have constructed?” 

“We will implement this report. Where immediate action has to be taken, we will take that action.  Let us not forget one thing, we must follow due diligence,” he added.

He added that although a hard decision will be made, due diligence has to be followed to ensure justice and fairness to avoid undue court litigation. He vowed to ring-fence county funds for the benefit of Kitui people.

Kitui County assembly speaker Kevin Katisya assured that the county assembly would work with the governor to ensure Muinde team’s recommendation were implemented to the letter.

Muinde had during the presentation of the audit report said when her committee was carrying out head count of all workers, 935 on the payroll did not present themselves.

 “If they have not shown up we can say these are people who are not accounted for. If they are not accounted for, then they are not known and a ghost worker is a person who is not known,” she said.

The chairperson said her team established that out of 8,114 persons who were on record as employees of the County government, only 7,526 presented themselves for head count with all their documents.

She however disclosed that they included a mysterious 347 casual who were not in the county data base but were armed with document that showed they were hired by the county government.

Muinde said out of 935 ghost workers, 326 were hired on permanent and pensionable basis while 23 were on contract, 56 were ECDE teachers  while 530 where casual workers.

She said 592 county employees were hired by the public service board without being needed or any request for additional staff by the top officers in the departments where they were deployed.

She said her committee also established a number of county officers who did not merit were promoted at the expense of those who merited.

The chairperson said other workers were hired without being shortlisted for interviews and meeting the academic and professional threshold for positions they were hired to hold in the county government.

She said her team also established that some workers where paid salaries through manual system instead of the integrated personnel payroll data system thus creating a loophole to siphoning county funds.

The chairperson said workers who unduly earned from the county government through unwarranted promotion must pay back the money. She said Malombe should ensure that heads roll for normalcy to return in the county human resource establishment..

-Edited by SKanyara