Kitui Governor Dr Julius Malombe has decried the high wage bills, incompetent staffs and debts he has inherited from outgoing former Governor Charity Ngilu.
Speaking Thursday during his first address to Kitui County Assembly, he further lamented of other numerous handicaps ahead of him and appealed to the MCA to help him fix the county’s woes.
Malombe expressed regret over delayed staff salaries and compromised County Service Board which resulted to laying off and sending away skilled staff and replacing them with incompetent labour.
“Ahead of us now is the critical responsibility to reclaim our County’s lost glory. In the last five years, no tangible and visible development has been undertaken to meaningfully uplift our people’s livelihoods,” Malombe said.
“We have inherited a sad state of affairs. Hospitals had no drugs. Pending bills including legal liabilities had been allowed to accumulate to unsustainable levels. Staff salaries delayed, sometimes in excess of a month or beyond. Skewed and inequitable development where some county wards never had any meaningful projects undertaken for the last five years,” he added.
Malombe assumed office for a second term, after retaking the seat he lost to outgoing governor Charity Ngilu in 2017 national election.
“The wage bills have exceeded the 35 percent legal requirement specified under the Public and Finance Management Act 2021. Corruption allegations have been publicly levelled against county staff, including the County Public Service Board thus diminishing the county’s credibility, image and bankability,” he added.
The governor stressed that the County was in dire strains with public reputation and financial status at an all-time low and urged the MCAs devise way of addressing the inherent challenges to meet residents’ expectations.
He said that he would also appoint 12 CEC to help him work out on implementing projects and other measures to counter the county challenges.
Despite huge wage bills and delayed salaries, Malombe promised to place 2,401 Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) on permanent and pensionable terms.
“The total number of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers is 2,401 and we are programming to place them on Permanent and Pensionable terms soon after Supplementary Budget I is approved by the County Assembly and the necessary human resource processes are completed,” said the Governor.
He was optimistic that most of the challenges would be addressed once the national government releases fund to counties.
