More than 2000 Garissa County government workers were on Friday sent home by Governor Ali Korane
Governor Korane stated that the county did not have the means to continue paying the workers who were employed under ‘ugatuzi na kazi’ project.
Korane argued that bloated human workforce had contributed to unsustainable wage bill of Sh5.4Billion yearly, which had serious implication on development programs.
He further stated that there was no legal backing for the employment of the casual workers.
Mr Korane noted that his office would initiate a community service with proper legal framework in consultation with the county executive and seek endorsement from the county assembly.
“Sadly in establishing the initiative, the former administration failed to meet proper structure for monitoring and supervision to ascertain their effectiveness in service delivery,” County Communication Director Abubakar Dayah stated.
The workers were hired by former Governor Nathif Jama to carry out manual jobs including bush clearing.
Mr Jama had employed the casual labourers in an aim of engaging youth and women to undertake community service at the sub-county level.
This comes two weeks after Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso announced that she would send 3500 County Government officers home after the expiry of their contracts.
The Governor stated that the move was part of the efforts to reduce the ballooning wage bill and change the current scenario where most of the officers were on contract terms without security of tenure and pension
Laboso noted that the persons holding the positions would be eligible to apply once the jobs were advertised.
