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Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga plans to order for a payroll audit to reduce the bloated county wage bill and increase revenue collection.
She said she does not want a situation where the county government fully depends on funds from the National Treasury, to pay salaries and run other developmental programmes.
Wanga spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with health workers at the county headquarters in Homa Bay town.
She was accompanied by her deputy Oyugi Magwanga.
The governor said her government will come up with radical measures aimed at making the devolved unit increase its self-dependence by being able to generate funds to address its own problems.
She said they will put the county on track by weeding out ghost workers who are said to be consuming a substantial part of the county recurrent expenditures.
The Homa Bay government is said to be infiltrated by people who illegally earn as professionals at different departments but do not report to work in their alleged offices.
“An audit will be done on the payroll where all our employees will physically attend and present their appointment letters. This will help us weed out ghost workers who illegally benefit from taxpayers money,” Wanga said.
She said there is need to transform Homa Bay for the benefit of residents.
Former governor Cyprian Awiti’s administration had been accused of under-performance because of misuse of public resources and high wage bill consumed by ghost workers.
On Wednesday, Wanga said the county’s current wage bill stands at 54 per cent.
She said Homa Bay is wholly depending on money from the National Treasury to run different activities.
“We must change the state of affairs of our county and ensure we meet our target. We’ll try as much as we can to address the financial problems from within,” the governor said.
Awiti’s regime had been characterised by delayed salaries, shortage of water and lack of medicines at public health facilities.
However, Wanga asked workers in the county to work closely with her, so they can address the problems.
She said her intention is to run a well functional, structured and transparent government where residents contribute to its development.
“My administration is not driven by ill motive of removing qualified people from their jobs. We just want to run a clean and transparent government,” Wanga said.
In their agenda, Wanga wants public hospitals to increase collection and not only wait for funds from the national government.
Magwanga asked the medics who were from different public hospitals to be in the front-line in ensuring the county's health status is improved.
“We must not hold the title as being the leading county in poor health services. There is also a need to change the physical outlook of our hospitals,” he said.
The medics were also told to ensure they generate enough revenue to manage different operations.
Magwanga further warned Homa Bay officials working at finance department against withholding statutory deductions for county employees.
“Officials who will sleep on the job will be fired, if workers and residents complain about their service delivery,” he said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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