Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has given Wajir Water and Sewerage Company 90 days to improve operations or be disbanded.
He asked why a team of more than 200 cannot manage just 15 boreholes while the Water department, with 142 workers, handles 315 boreholes.
Abdullahi spoke during a county executive committee meeting at headquarters in Wajir town on Thursday.
The governor warned he will not hesitate to revert water management services to the department.
WAJWASCO was established in 2014 at the onset of devolution under the Companies Act.
It has time and again come under sharp criticism from leaders and residents, with the county blamed for doing little to streamline its operations.
It is a wholly-owned company by the Wajir government. Its main objective is to distribute affordable, clean water and sewerage services to Wajir town residents and its environs.
Efforts by the previous administration to make it efficient by changing its leadership were unfruitful.
“The inspiration behind the establishment of the company was income generation, profit-making and self-sustainable. The question that we all need to honestly ask ourselves is, how far has it gone in achieving this?” the governor said.
Abdullahi also put ghost workers on notice, saying their days were numbered. He promised to correct the mess without victimising anyone.
He said a human resource audit showed that the county had at least 4,338 workers, with the majority being in top and bottom positions.
The audit by the Public Service Board revealed that most of the county staff were hired irregularly.
“We shall establish an implantation task force that will comb through the report page by page, item by item to try and implement everything as recommended,” he said.
It was reported that of the I,642 files sampled by the auditors from the Public Service Commission, 354 had no certificate at all and some had two appointment letters from the employer.
The audit showed that some retired employees or those who resigned are still on the county payroll.
“I want to assure everyone that there will be no witch-hunting during the implementation of this report. We will be fair and whatever policy we shall come up with we shall apply it equally across the board,” Abdullahi said.
Wajir County Public Service Board chairman Jelle Ibrahim urged workers who were hired irregularly to resign rather than wait to be fired.
“Restructuring is always painful but we shall have done it humanely. Those who know they got onto the payroll through dubious means I would advise you to resign rather than wait to be sacked because you will have to refund the salaries you have been getting since you were employed,” he said.
