Kilifi grappling with uneducated county workers

By JOSEPH MASHA

Kilifi, Kenya: Nearly 150 workers inherited by the Kilifi county government from the defunct local authorities in Kilifi have no academic qualifications. The Standard has learnt.

Investigations have also established that a separate lot of workers have only a minimum qualification of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

The county government has a total of 2,130 workers including newly employed ones and the inherited ones.

Sources within the county government have told The Standard that uneducated workers and those with low education qualifications compromise quality of service given to members of the public.

The county secretary Owen Baya told The Standard in an exclusive interview in his office yesterday that there are about 150 workers inherited by the county government from the defunct local authorities who do not have any academic certificates.

Baya also confirmed that some of the staff inherited from the defunct Malindi County Council, Malindi Municipal Council, Kilifi County Council, Kilifi Town Council and Mariakani Town Council have only KCPE level education.

VETTING PROCESS

Baya said these details emerged during a vetting process of the former local authority staff before they were absorbed by the county government.

He said despite their lack of qualifications, the county government is having a hard time getting rid of the staff.

The secretary said most of those without an education were involved in revenue collection and some were in the clearing departments.

He said their investigations reveal that many know how to do the job well due to the number of years they have worked in these departments.

“We have uneducated people who have learnt to do their job while on the job. However, for the county government to achieve its objectives, we need educated people. Fact is, in Kilifi county we are having a real challenge on that,” he said.

CASUAL WORKERS

Investigations further revealed that the county government inherited about 250 casual workers from the former local authorities.

 Baya said the government is finding it hard taking them on a permanent basis because most do not have the right education qualifications.

He said records from his office indicate that the county government is spending about Sh1.1 million every month to pay casual workers mainly found in the public hospitals.