County governments take over staff payroll management

By ROSELYNE OBALA

NAIROBI, KENYA: County governments will officially take over the management of staff payroll this month, the National government has announced.

The Ministry of Devolution and Planning has confirmed the transfer of payrolls to Counties that began on January 6, and was expected to be completed by Wednesday.

“We are currently coordinating the transfer of payrolls to Counties. This will enable Counties to prepare and pay January salaries in a timely manner,” stated Devolution Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru.

She affirmed that the National government has installed the Interpreted Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) system in all the 47 counties and trained 219 officers on management of the labour force in Counties.

“All Counties have confirmed that they are using the system and have established capacity to manage the payroll,” she said.

Waiguru also stated that in line with the latest development, drafted a Human Resource Policy guidelines for management of staff deemed seconded counties are in final stage of internal consultations.

“The guidelines seek to operationalise the secondment of staff to counties and provides for terms and conditions of the seconded personnel, training, discipline, pension, establishment and abolition of offices during the transition period,” she explained.

She continued, “It will also assess the overall management of seconded staff by County governments.”

The CS justified the transfer exercise arguing that process is in accordance with the constitution, which stipulates that devolved functions to County governments with the exception of the payroll functions, be transferred after six months.