A staff audit report commissioned by Governor Joseph Lenku late last year has revealed several employees were earning salaries without working.
On October 12, 2022, Lenku contracted the Institute of Human Resource Management to assist in carrying out the staff audit.
While launching the exercise, Lenku pledged to revoke irregular staff promotions and conduct an employee headcount to tame the bloated wage bill.
On Thursday, Lenku received a shocker after the institute delivered its findings and recommended urgent massive cleanup of the county’s human resource system.
“It has been discovered that, over the last ten years, there are employees who earn a salary without stepping into an office or doing any job,” Lenku said.
The governor said that in the report, some staff have been irregularly promoted to higher grades without relevant authorisation.
“In some cases, workers of the county were promoted without commensurate academic qualifications while some have stagnated in one grade for over ten years,” Lenku said.
Still, he said, there are some employees who, in a bizarre findings, share one bank account.
The damning report revealed that other workers have had their salaries and allowances adjusted in the payroll without following due process.
“We have also found out that there are some who left the government years back but continue to draw salaries. All these gaps, among others, are contained in the report which we shall continue studying,” Lenku said.
He said remedial action on the various irregularities will start immediately, adding that his office recognises the integral role employees play in government's operations to realise effective service delivery and achieve its mandate.
The governor said there will be no victimisation of any staff but the ills of the past must be corrected once and for all.
While addressing the county assembly late last year, Lenku said the county would conduct employee headcount to tame the bloated wage bill said to choke the realisation of development.
On Thursday, the governor said despite the mistakes made by the county public service board, no staff will be victimised.