County governments yet to receive employees’ details from national government

By STANDARD TEAM

NAIROBI, KENYA: Mombasa County government is yet to receive all payrolls for workers seconded to the region by the national government.

County officials said they are thus unable to process this month’s salaries for affected workers.

The officials added the county has the financial capacity to pay all its employees but warned that they might lock out those seconded by the Transition Authority. “We have not received their details from the parent ministries to enable them to be integrated into the final payroll,” said secretary Hamisi Mwaguya. He revealed the county was compiling its payroll, but it was receiving information about the seconded employees in bits. “We are receiving payrolls in bits and so far we have only received from three ministries,” said Mwaguya.

BUDGET

In Nyeri, the county government said it is ready to handle its public service payroll for staff, who have been devolved to the county.

Speaking to The Standard, County Executive Committee Member in charge of Finance Martin Wamwea said they have set up the necessary mechanism to handle the payroll at the end of this month. “We have a payroll team in place. We have the necessary machinery to handle the payroll for staff at the county level,” Wamwea said. He noted that the number of staff had increased three times.

In Meru County, Finance secretary Muthomi Kiara declined to confirm or deny whether they were prepared for the task. Kiara worried over the effect of the rise in number of staff on their budget, saying almost all the Sh2.6 billion set for the development expenditure would have to be reallocated to payment of salaries.