Governor conducts staff headcount to weed out ghost workers

Narok County on Wednesday launched a three-week physical headcount of its 5,000 employees.

The exercise, according to Governor Patrick ole Ntutu, is aimed at eliminating ghost workers and ensuring a genuine workforce.

It will also entail biometric registration to establish the number of employees, their jobs, suitability and whether or not there are positions that have inadequate or excessive number of staff.

“The registration will assist us in establishing whether the number of staff in our records conforms to the number of staff that can be physically accounted for and verified,” said Ntutu.

He said the registration is necessary to help in reducing the wage bill which he said currently stands at 34 per cent of the budget.

“At the moment, the county has a wage bill that takes 34 per cent of our budget. The law sets the limit of 35 per cent which therefore means we are only 1 per cent below the limit,” said the county boss.

The exercise will be carried out by a Human Resource team of experts called AGMOND International Consultants.

Ntutu noted that the registration will also help his administration to increase efficiency by ensuring employees match jobs with skills, therefore the most suitable employees are deployed where they will be most effective.

“The process will help the county eliminate wastage of resources by identifying areas where county government payroll can be downsized as well as fighting against corruption and theft of state resources by identifying ghost workers,” he said.

He also defended the move saying it is not a witch hunt but rather a skill alignment and process to increase effective service delivery.

“I called upon all the staff to cooperate and be supportive to ensure that the process becomes a success,” he remarked.

The county chief was accompanied by his deputy Tamalinye Koech, County Secretary and Head of County Public Service Mayiani oTuya, chief of staff Francis Wanyeki, and all executive members.

On his part, Tuya said all employees are required to present original copies of appointment letters, letters for current positions, National Identity Card, last three months’ pay slips, academic and professional certificates, filled head count questionnaire and coloured passport photo.      BY THE STAR