According to a task force report on Machakos County Human Resource Audit, 376 out of 6, 321 of the County’s employees lack academic certificates.
Gregory Somba who presented the report to the Machakos County governor Wavinya Ndeti on behalf of the 13-member team of the task force formed in November 2022 said they established that 2,889 other employees didn’t have academic transcripts, while 1,378 lacked job confirmation letters.
“We established that the county government as of November 2022 had a total of 6, 321 staff imposts spread across the departments who were not optimally placed. That was a key finding,” Somba said.
Further, Somba said a biometric headcount conducted by the taskforce on the workers verified 6,150 employees while 186 employees weren’t verified since they didn’t turn up for the exercise.
He said they also established irregular employment and promotions of staff against the principles of Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution and the County Government Act 2012 sections 65, 66, 67 to 74 were done in the county during the period.
“There were 116 cases of irregular appointments, 197 cases of promotions without due process, 60 cases of employees serving in positions not recognized in county government structures,” Somba said.
Machakos County Governor Wavinya Ndeti commissioned the task force in November 2022.
The other task forces that handed over their reports to the county CEO included; Pending Bills, Motor vehicles and ICT Infrastructure.
The task force found that there was no Machakos County HR Policy Manual and that there was non-compliance with the established county job groups, grading structures, collective bargaining agreements, career regulations, guidelines, and schemes of service.
According to Somba, the County Government Amendment Act 2020's delayed confirmation of staff appointments after the completion of the probationary term is a result of a lack of employment rules and practices.
He claimed that 49 employees who had successfully completed their probationary periods but had not yet been confirmed in their positions had been discovered.
“Accrued leave days without accountability was the order of the day that contributed to leakage of finances,” Somba said.
“We established that there was the unapproved conversion of terms and conditions of service from contractual to permanent terms without due process,” Somba said.
According to Somba, 146 personnel held ward and village administrator positions in violation of the IPPD because they lacked the necessary academic credentials.
He claimed that disciplinary cases were not disclosed and were terminated improperly.
