Anxiety as county sends 350 workers home

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho.

Panic has hit the Mombasa County government after 350 workers in the inspectorate department were sent home following the expiry of their contracts.

The affected staff had contracts running between one and two years, according to county officials who told Saturday Standard that the former workers have since stopped reporting to work. They were, mostly, employed after the 2017 elections.

The officers are involved in enforcement and traffic marshalling among other services that ensure proper revenue collection and smooth operations of the county government.

County Communications Director Richard Chacha, who confirmed the expiry of the workers’ contracts, saying service delivery had not been affected by their exit. However, he did not provide the exact date when the contracts ended. “We knew they were leaving and put in place measures to address the shortfall,” said Chacha. On November 12, all county executive committee members were sent home after the expiry of their contracts.

Governor Hassan Joho promised to name a fresh team in a few days but has not yet done so. There has been intense lobbying for the positions as Joho remained silent over the long delay to fill the positions. The governor said he and an independent team have been evaluating the performance of the executives.