- Hundreds of workers - mostly cronies and relatives of top county officials - were illegally issued with employment letters
- Sang said the county public service board was in the process of revoking all illegally issued employment letters
Image: BY MATHEWS NDANYI
More than 1,100 employees of the Nandi county government who got their jobs illegally have been sacked, Governor Stephen Sang has said.
Sang said the county public service board was in the process of revoking all employment letters that were issued irregularly.
The affected employees, whose names had been entered into the county payroll unprocedurally, will not earn salaries starting this month.
The move follows a human resource audit by the Public Service Commission, which revealed a major payroll scam.
Hundreds of workers - mostly cronies and relatives of top county officials - were illegally issued with employment letters and their names entered into the payroll.
“We have started the process of implementing the report from the audit and those affected will be informed according to the laid down regulations.
The affected workers have earned an estimated Sh2 billion in the last six years, pushing the county wage bill to more than 75 per cent and leaving little resources for development.
Sang also disowned a document circulating that shows 1,800 employees will be affected.
“It’s not authentic. Staff personal information and data are protected and can not be shared outside the provisions of law,” the county boss said.
Individuals will receive direct communication, Sang said, in line with the laid down government procedures.
“I therefore confirm that the document circulating is not a genuine and official document emanating from the county government.”
He cautioned the propagators against publishing private information.
“Those generating, manipulating and sharing individual personal data and information relating to staff or individuals are liable to committing offences provided by the law,” he said.
An update on the status and progress of implementation of the HR audit report would be provided in due course, he added.
Sang allayed workers' fears of a general freeze of salaries.
“This decision will be implemented by ensuring that the affected individuals will have their names expunged from the payroll and therefore no salary will be paid accordingly.”
The audit was carried out at the governor's invite.
Among the findings was the illegal issuance of employment letters by the County Public Service Board in collusion with the payroll unit.
Other rampant and irregular practices were the use of fake documents including fake certificates to secure jobs, haphazard placement of employees in job groups and questionable promotions.
In some cases, affected employees rose four job groups in two years, without justification, while others have remained in the same grade for more than eight years without promotion.
These were contrary to recommendations by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, made during the Third National Wage Bill Conference in April.
“All these irregularities led to issuance of fake appointment letters obtained through fraudulent means and which found their way into the payroll system,” the county chief said.
While announcing the findings two weeks ago, Sang also suspended several payroll officers to allow for investigations.
Some of those suspended are being questioned by the DCI as details emerged that some of those hired irregularly paid bribes of up to Sh400,000.
He urged the holders of irregular appointments to visit the complaints desk which have been set up in every department to explain themselves.
“We are going to implement this report fully and anybody who in one way or another played a role in this flawed process will have to face the consequences,” the governor said.
The irregularities in the payroll management system caused the number of employees to increase to more than 4,430.
The county should have not more than 3,000 workers and Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has consistently raised queries over irregular employment.