Vihiga County Governor Wilber Otichilo has announced that he will lay off about 3,000 workers to enable his administration significantly reduce recurrent expenditure from the current 80 percent to a sustainable percentage.
Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, the Governor stated that the local government had employed 4,500 workers against the required maximum of 1,300.
Otichilo stated that that the new county government civil service would not exceed 1,320 employees.
He noted that he had already invited office of the Director of Personnel Management (DPM) from Nairobi to assist his office in carrying out a thorough forensic audit on all staff at the county government.
“The headcount exercise, which was conducted one week ago, revealed the government had 3,746 on permanent and pensionable terms while 862 are working as casuals,” Otichilo stated.
“The DPM findings would be presented before the floor of the County Assembly for discussion and approval for implementation,” he added.
Otichilo stated that the bloated workforce was eating into funds meant for development projects.
He further regretted inheriting a government that lacked a structured human resource management, hence leading to the irregular employment of workers, some without prerequisite qualifications.
