Garissa Governor Nathif Jama is now racing against time to restore sanity in the county's payroll after noting that 3,500 employees were earning illegally.
In an address to the press on Saturday, November 12, the county boss noted that a human resource audit undertaken two months ago showed that 100 drivers had been employed to drive only 12 cars.
He further noted that in the senior jobs categories including deputy directors as well as assistants, the positions attracted 180 salaried individuals against the backdrop of only 44 available posts.
The number, therefore, pushed the total workforce to over 7,000 individuals that set back the county Ksh450 million monthly expenditure.
“I took over a county where there were about close to 7,000 staff members earning salaries both in the official salary system and also in something called excel. where hundreds if not thousands of casuals were being put in there.
“The county was paying close to 450 million shillings per month from the monthly exchequer. our wage bill was slightly below 73 percent. which is way above the legal requirement under PFM 0f 35 percent," stated the county boss.
In the financial year 2020/2021, the county approved a budget of Ksh8.8 billion.
Jama, in the latest discovery, gave all sacked county employees a chance to present their case before being struck off the payroll.
The Governor's fight mimics that of his Kisii counterpart, Simba Arati, who waged a war against 256 drivers who he claimed, at the end of August immediately after his election, had been hired to driver 82 cars.
The Governor at the time also noted that the ghost drivers drew salaries meant for development projects and other services from the county government.
“I expected to see 256 drivers who I called here, this is sickening, how else can we explain? are some drivers passengers in those vehicles?” Arati questioned at the time.
He, therefore, directed all the county drivers to avail themselves at the Gusii stadium and stand next to their cars to ascertain genuine employees.
