Homa Bay County starts audit to weed out ghost workers

Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga. [James Omoro, Standard]

Homa Bay County Government has begun auditing its workers to weed out ghost workers.

The county has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake the exercise.

Governor Gladys Wanga launched the staff audit, which will be conducted within one month.

Speaking during the swearing-in of Benard Muok as County Secretary, Wanga expressed concerns that the huge wage bill deters the county government from implementing development projects.

She said the wage bill currently stands at 75 per cent of the devolved funds they get from the National Treasury. She said the key contributor to the high wage bill is salaries.

"The county gets billions of shillings in a financial year. But 75 per cent of the money goes to wage bill and only 25 per cent remains for development," said Wanga.

Wanga who was accompanied by her Deputy Oyugi Magwanga and County Assembly Speaker Julius Gaya said the huge wage bill had made many people complain of poor implementation of development projects.

"Residents complain that the county receives huge amounts of money but the money that goes for development is too minimal. This hinders the implementation of development projects which is our key role," Wanga said.

"We have hired the organisation to do the audit for us. This will enable us to know the people who earn from the county government's payroll and what they do," Wanga said.

She said the audit is not targeting to harm any worker.

"Let workers who were employed genuinely not worry. The exercise is going to be done transparently," she added.