Homa Bay tax collection halted, workers to be paid using cheques

The county government recently established a revenue collection board with the aim of boosting revenue collection.

The board members were sworn into office last week. They include ODM leader Raila Odinga's sister Akinyi Wenwa, chairman Dr Konyango Otieno, members Patrobas Owiti, Alloice Rodi, Hilda Onyango, Erick Okongo and Calvince Oguma.

Meanwhile, the county has resorted to paying salaries using cheques in efforts to weed out ghost workers.

The 2,193 employees started visiting the county headquarters on Monday to collect cheques for their January pay.

A manual payroll register is being used to make the payments.

County Secretary Bernard Muok had issued a memo informing the county workers that they would need to appear in person to collect their pay, which would be paid through cheques, as opposed to the money being deposited into their bank accounts.

Prof Muok said the issuance of the cheques would boost the ongoing audit of human resources by the county administration.

The employees were expected to present themselves at the governor's office on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to collect the cheques.

They are to appear with their national identity cards, appointment letters, letter of deployment and a letter of arrival to work station.

"The staff are required to present themselves physically at the offices. Their January 2023 salaries will be paid by way of cheques," Prof Muok said in his memo.

The county government will mark uncollected cheques as those belonging to ghost workers.

It is expected that by the workers appearing in person the human resource department will be able to know the employees who exist and those who only exist on paper.

"All county staff in the categories mentioned should cooperate in the audit process," Muok said.

Those with questions about the process were told to contact the county secretary directly or through their immediate supervisors.

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