Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo on Thursday, October 31, kicked out 307 health workers in the county after it emerged that they had been illegally hired.
His action came after he received a report by a committee that he had formed to investigate staffing in the health department.
According to a report by the Daily Nation, the county has been experiencing a standoff in the health department for the past five months.
In September, the governor halted the payment of salaries to all the newly recruited staff in the department and ordered investigations into the recruitment process.
While releasing the report, the governor revealed that the 307 employees were among the 518 staff who had been appointed in different health cadres.
Out of the 307, 108 had been offered employment without being shortlisted for interviews, 53 without even applying for the jobs were interviewed and the another 146 were handed direct employment.
"Shortlisting is a critical stage in the recruitment process in public service. The salaries of the affected staff are being processed," stated the governor.
He also added that the affected employees would be paid for the time they had served the people of Vihiga.
Ottichilo further revealed that the report would be forwarded to the EACC and the DCI to ensure those that were responsible were answerable for their actions.
The remaining 210 employees had applied for the advertised positions and were shortlisted for employment but the governor noted that the terms of their employment were set to change from permanent and pensionable to contracts.
"This is in line with the public service policy and based on the fact that the county government does not have a pension scheme yet and there was, therefore, no basis for the county public service board engaging staff on permanent and pensionable terms," the governor added.
The fired employees have until November 30, to submit any complaints for consideration.
