Siaya Governor James Orengo has been put to task to provide answers regarding the mass dismissal of health workers hired by the county government.
In what appears to be an employment scandal in the making, Alego Usonga MP Sam Atandi challenged Orengo to address allegations of graft and mismanagement by senior county officials in the recruitment of over 380 health workers, who were dismissed under unclear circumstances.
Atandi urged Orengo to assert his authority, dismiss the senior officials responsible for the alleged employment malpractices, and even invite the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate the matter.
“We want to see the governor take action. We want to see heads roll. We want to see people fired. We want to see the DCI invited to begin investigations into those occurrences,” Atandi said.
“If you know that you have taken money from innocent Kenyans in Siaya, you promised them some job, please give them those jobs. I met so many people who lamented they gave out something, they were given a letter of employment, worked for about eight months, and then they were later fired after being told they were not eligible to work here in Siaya,” he added.
385 Workers Dismissed
Atandi’s demand comes days after the Siaya County Government announced the dismissal of 385 health workers over forged documents on Friday, September 12. The county alleged that the workers were hired to work in the county health department without proper documentation.
County Public Service Board Chief Executive Officer Wilfred Nyagudi said that the mass firing followed the discovery of inconsistencies in their reference letters.
“We noted several issues. Some of them were inconsistencies in the sequence of reference letters. Any letter we issue, such as deployments, must be signed by the chief of health. We had cases where someone had a deployment letter dated earlier than their appointment,” Nyagudi said.
At a meeting between workers and county officials, only 120 health workers were informed that they are eligible employees. The remaining employees were told not to report to work again while the issues surrounding their salaries remained unresolved.
However, their dismissal occurred eight months after their employment, raising questions about the timing of their termination.
Governor Orengo has yet to issue a statement on the matter, even as the affected workers have demanded justice for their unfair dismissal.
