Workers turned away at county’s headcount

By STANLEY MWAHANGA

Mombasa,Kenya:Several workers who turned up for the Mombasa County government employee headcount were turned back for lack of all the required documents.

Some lacked appointment letters or their employment letters lacked rubber stamps from the human resource department.

And it was said some of those who turned up had very old documents raising questions about their ages.

The audit by Ernst & Young was launched to weed out alleged ‘ghost’ or fictitious employees believed to be around 1,000 of the expected workforce of 2,600.

When the last audit was conducted in June about 1,400 failed to turn up at Tononoka Social Centre in Mombasa where yesterday’s count was also held.

Workers had to pass through six counters for thorough inspection and answering questions and filing forms in the exercise.

fair and transparent

The first batch, which included senior county staff members, county union officials and heads of department, had to provide proof that they were genuine workers of the county.

“I have been told that my letter lacks the human resource signature, so I can’t pass to the Verification Counter,” a worker said. Workers had to produce original copies of their national identity cards, appointment letter, National Social Security Fund card, National Hospital insurance Fund card, Kenya Revenue Authority pin number, Laptrust card, staff identity card and their latest pay slip as proof of their employment.

According to Ernst & Young manager in charge of forensic audit Reuben Gitahi the audit is going to be fair and transparent and will reveal the true nature of the workforce.