Court halts verification exercise by task force on Garissa county

The court granted conservatory orders suspending the task force appointed via Gazette notice of number 13821 pending inter partes hearing on November 28. 

The petitioners, who included Ahmed Abdi Hassan, Abdi Hirsi Farah, Hassan Rashid Ahmed and Ahmedrashid Koriyo Abdi, filed the petition against Garissa county, county public service board, Garissa governor, county secretary and the Controller of Budget.

Last week, Governor Nathif Jama appointed a special task force for those complaining over unfair dismissal to present their cases for adjudication.

The task force, which was chaired by the county secretary Mohamud Mursal, started its activities on November 14.

This was after an earlier audit showed that the county hired directors and their deputies who did not have the mandatory academic papers to head the dockets.

Also, 1oo people were hired as drivers yet there are only 12 vehicles in the county Transport department.

The findings were made public by Jama, who said the county harboured a lot of ghost workers.

And following the development, in a joint press release, the task force announced that the exercise has been halted.

"Now therefore, it is notified to all affected officers that the verification exercise of affected officers as per the terms of reference is hereby temporarily suspended," the press release said. 

The move is a big reprieve to hundreds of county staff who would have been affected by the exercise.

Jama, however, defended himself against accusations from some leaders and activists who have accused him of the arbitrary sacking of county employees.

Last week, the governor said the county had been turned into a recruitment bureau, which has contributed to it lagging behind in terms of providing essential services to residents.

Jama said 3,500 people have been earning salaries both in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database and in excel sheet payments for casual workers.

“Close to 7,000 staff are earning salaries both in the official salary system and in the excel sheets, where payments of hundreds, if not thousands of casuals are processed," he said.

“The county was paying close to Sh450 million per month from the monthly exchequer and our wage bill was around 70 per cent, which is way above the legal requirement of 35 per cent under the PFM [Public Finance Management] Act."