The ongoing headcount of employees of Murang’a County government has been hailed as a correct move towards taming the ballooning wage bill.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata has observed that the exercise will help clean the payroll and establish the exact number of the county employees.
He expressed concerns that there could be incidents where retired and deceased workers are still on the payroll.
The county government, Kang’ata stated, is spending about 50 percent of its capitation annually to pay salaries which he added is against the law.
“According to the law, only 35 percent is supposed to cater for salaries but it is worrying that the county administration is spending about 50 percent on wages.
A big percentage going for recurrent expenditure means less funds to support development projects,” said the governor as he inspected the ongoing headcount at various areas within the county.
Kang’ata assured the employees that there is no witch-hunt in the exercise requesting the workers to provide required documents.
“There are those who may miss some documents but I assure you the exercise will be fair. Those with missing documents will be given more time to search for them. There is also an alternative to check their details from the system,” he added.
The headcount, which started on Tuesday ends on Thursday, September 29. The employees deployed to all the nine sub counties were required to present themselves at various stations for the exercise.
Kang’ata said after the exercise all employees will be put under the Integrated Personnel and Database Payroll (IPPD) system.
“There are some employees who are still paid manually but we are moving to ensure every county worker is in the IPPD system. This will help manage the salary payments,” averred Kang’ata.
He cautioned the workers against presenting fake academic certificates. “Just present the certificates which you were employed with. Do not bring fake documents as this will lead to termination of your service.”
The headcount was also lauded as it will help to determine what kind of work each employee does.
“The county government will be in a position to know departments with excess employees and also where there is shortage. This will assist in harmonising the workforce,” he remarked.
Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu praised the move to carry out a head count saying it will weed out ghost workers.
Incidents of ghost workers, Nyutu observed limit resources which would be utilised in implementing projects.
“Prudent utilisation of county funds will help in servicing the mwananchi better. Removing ghost workers from the payroll is one way to ensure money meant for development are not benefiting a few individuals,” he noted.
