County launches head-count of staff to weed ghost workers

Prosperity building in Kisumu in a picture taken on August 22, 2017. [Denish Ochieng/Standard]

The county government has launched a head count of all its staff as part of efforts to eliminate ghost workers.

A memo by County Secretary Olang’o Onudi has instructed all employees to report to 11 counting centres for the exercise.

“Following the ongoing Comprehensive Human Resource Audit, there will be a head count on Wednesday, May 23 starting at exactly 8am,” read the memo

The employees are required to carry photocopies and originals of their national ID cards, academic and professional certificates, letters of first appointment, latest deployment, promotion and transfer as well as the latest payslip.

County Communication Director Alloyce Ager yesterday confirmed that the exercise was aimed at checking the wage bill by cleaning up the payroll.

“This exercise is a follow up on an audit report which unearthed a number of human resource issues, including presence of ghost workers in the payroll, as well as people who earn double or triple salaries,” he said.

The exercise comes barely three years after a similar audit revealed that the county had been losing Sh29 million every year to ghost workers.

According to the report sanctioned by former County Secretary Humphrey Nakitari, eight departments were affected, with the staff involved earning salaries of between Sh20, 633 and Sh246, 947.

The report, however, could not ascertain the individuals who had been withdrawing the monies from the ghost workers’ accounts.

But Charles Opiyo, chairman of the Kenya County Government Workers Union Nyanza Chapter, expressed reservations about the planned head count, saying the union was not involved in planning the exercise.

"We have convened a meeting today to deliberate over the issue and we will advise members on our stand," he said.