10 Homa Bay County staff hell-bent on forging employment contracts and letters were caught scrambling at local cybercafés after the human resource department embarked on an impromptu audit of ghost workers.
In a statement that was sent to the newsrooms on Thursday, the county government revealed that the staff camped at the cybers hoping to receive the documents that would have saved them from looming retrenchment.
However, unknown to them, officials from the County, in collaboration with police officers, were on their trail and pounced on them quickly before they could escape.
Following rigorous interrogations into the circumstances of their enlistment on the county payroll, the employees were subsequently detained at Homa Bay Central Police Station for further processing.
The exercise, which also examined the employees' digital footprints, revealed that 129 other individuals had no files in the County Registry and did not present any relevant documents during the audit.
"I want to make it clear from the onset that this is a report on Phase One of the exercise that focused on the verification of County employees and payroll data," the statement read in parts.
"The other two phases will include setting up of a clear staff establishment for the County's public service and putting in place a Human Resource Management System that will serve the people of Homa Bay County beyond us," the county government added.
At the same time, 287 individuals failed to participate in the verification process altogether, while 556 staff did not present any appointment letters or other key contract documents, further highlighting glaring irregularities.
Homa Bay County also noted that 322 individuals lacked appropriate academic qualifications and licences from their respective professional bodies.
"Those whose certificates KNEC confirmed as inauthentic were 479 individuals in the payroll earning but cannot be traced to the signed departmental HR lists," the reports by Homa Bay County read in part.
"Three individuals were earning salaries, yet they were under the age allowable for employment by the Act."
The county emphasised the need to embark on both an administrative and legal journey to ensure that the devolved unit fully implements recommendations that will be made in line with the audit report.
