Kakamega Governor, Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, on Tuesday, sent his county staff home.
The 143 revenue officials were sent on a 60-day compulsory leave by the governor.
The governor also announced measures targeting to plug a Ksh600 million shortfall in the county’s own revenue collection.
The governor then ordered county executives and chief officers to supervise revenue collection in the 13 sub-counties affected for the next one month and ensure set targets are met.
"You must ensure I’m briefed daily on how much has been collected in each of the sub-counties,” stated Oparanya.
The county chief directed that county executives and chief officers should join sub-county administrators in coordinating revenue collection, which had dropped to Ksh580 million.
The sub-county administrators and ward administrators will take up the functions of the revenue clerks.
The revenue staff will be required to report to the County Public Service Board for redeployment upon their return..
The governor threatened to fire county executives and chief officers who fail to deliver.
Oparanya also appointed Beatrice Memo, who retired from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), to be in charge of the County Revenue Agency for one year.
This comes just after Oparanya's tiff with county officials concerning their salaries.
The Council of Governors (CoG) chairman stated that the Division of Revenue Bill 2019 stalemate had pushed county governments to the edge, making it difficult to pay workers on time.
Oparanya, thus asked the staff in county governments to be patient as the matter is being addressed.
"In Kakamega, we have consistently been paying our workers as early as the 22nd day of each month but this time around it is impossible.
"Our workers will have to wait until after probably the 6th of August before they can receive the salaries," Oparanya spoke.
He had also hinted on reshuffling his cabinet to ensure the smooth flow of reports from one department to another.
He directed executives and chief officers to ensure contracts are only awarded to financially healthy firms.
“There should be proper coordination between the Finance department and the other organs before contracts are awarded to ensure payments are made promptly. We want to avoid pending bills,” he added.
