Job allocation marred by corruption, claim unions

By NAFTAL MAKORI

Nyamira County: Unionists in Nyamira have raised a red flag over the county government’s recruitment process that allegedly discriminates against former local authority staff and applicants from outside the county.

Former local authority officials fear they may lose their jobs. Majority of them lack clear mandates after devolution kicked in.

Some former senior local authority officials have been working without offices for the last six months after their space was taken over by new county government and Transition Authority officials.

Their fate remains unknown despite assurances by Governor John Nyagarama that their jobs were safe. Most affected by the county government shake-up are former council clerks and treasurers.

“Some of the former council staff are being told to re-apply for jobs. They should have been redeployed by now but sadly, they have been idle for over eight months now,” said Patrick Mobegi, the branch executive secretary of the Kenya County Government Workers Union. “They are advertising for jobs without conducting an employee audit to establish what exactly is required.”

He said the board had yielded to the pressure of clanism and job applicants from outside the county were being locked out. Mobegi urged the county to observe the constitutional requirement, which states that at least 30 per cent of the workforce must be from other counties.

Separately, Lewis Nyakweba, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers executive secretary in Nyamira, warned that devolution would escalate tribalism.