The Task Force of Human Resource Audit committee that was constituted by the Governor to audit the county casuals established that there are one thousand and ninety (1,090) casuals deployed in various departmentsof the county and spread across the six sub-counties.
The Committee noted that the monthly wage bill of these casuals is Kenya Shillings Nine Million, Four Hundred and Forty Seven Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty One and Forty Two Cents (KShs. 9, 447, 261.42).
The Task Force raised the following major audit queries from their findings;
1.That the entire engagement of casuals flouted the laid down procedures of engaging casuals. There was arbitrary employment by offices and individuals who have no appointing powers. The working term period of casuals was not observed as per the labour laws e.g.It is unacceptable to have a person work as a casual for over 10 years.
2.That due the above reason, three hundred and seventy three (373) casual workers were working without any form of engagement documents.
3.That the county has been spending in excess of Kenya Shillings Three Million (Kshs. 3,000,000/=) per month for over two hundred (200) casuals who never turned up for the verification process. Their names appear in the various casuals payment registers but they don’t appear in any of our work stations i.e. the ghost workers.
4.That most casuals did not have basic skills required for the jobs they were engaged to perform especially in Revenue, Procurement and Health sections/Departments.
5.Salaries indicated in the payroll varied from the actual salary paid to the casuals.
6.That three hundred and seventeen (317) casuals having been working and not earning theirsalary for the last one year.
7.That there were double payments for the same services ascasuals were recruited to perform servicesoutsourced by the county (ie. cleaning and security services).
8. An individual working in a mission hospital (private entity) is being paid by the county as a county casual staff.
9. That a number of casuals with skills are earning as low as Kshs.4000/= per month which is unacceptable.
10.That some casuals were entrusted to performcritical duties/functionsinpayment and payroll within Finance, as procurement officersas drivers of our ambulances among others.
ACTION PLAN TAKEN
From the foregoing findings, the following actions have been/will be undertaken by the County;
1.Reconstitution of County Human Resource Advisory Committee (CHRAC) working with the County Public Service Board to scrutinize the casuals’ qualifications and to undertake proper placement of the casuals. They will all be engaged in their proper stations on contract basis.
2.Development of a County Structure and staff establishment that will inform the actual workforce required by the county of which the human resource gaps will be filled competitively.
3.Those casuals with skills and qualifications whose services were critical in the Health Department have since been absorbed on contract basis.
4.That immediate and necessary human resource structures and policies will be put in place to ensure proper procedures are followed when engaging employees in the county.
5.That the management will ensure that there will be one central pay point for the county workforce.
6.That in the health sector who have been working without pay are now enjoying their salaries under Danida Program. The program had stalled due to accountability issues on the use of the donor program money.
7.That the officers whose offices were responsible for these irregularities and illegalities stand interdicted and will face disciplinary action. These officers are;
a. Mr. Peter Mokoro – Human Resource Officer
b.Ms. Susan Kogo – Administrator
c. Mr. Daniel Ruto – Sub county Administrator.