Lamu County Governor Issa Timamy will investigate illegal appointments made by his predecessor and the Lamu County Public Service Board in the run-up to the recently concluded August 2022 elections.
Timamy told KNA today in his Mokowe district that the previous administration broke the law by appointing workers and exceeding the county payroll beyond the constitutionally mandated 35% threshold of the county recurrent budget.
He stated that the current payroll accounts for at least 65 percent of the county budget, leaving very little money for development.
“The former regime took upon themselves to give contracts to 180 new workers within the last two months before the election,” he stated.
He also revealed that the majority of those given contracts at the end of the previous county administration included ECDE teachers, county security personnel, Lamu Water and Sanitation Company personnel, and political appointees, many of whom he added could have been ghost workers.
The governor’s allegations come just four months after the Lamu County Public Service Board (LCPSB) conducted an investigation into at least 112 suspected ghost workers who had been on the county’s payroll for years.
The LCPSB investigation revealed that there were 112 unaccounted ghost workers who were receiving salaries and other benefits from the county government.
“The Lamu municipality is also a major culprit for having hired adversely rather than following the law, with most of those with contracts likely to be ghost workers,” Timamy said.
He stated that he would conduct a probe into how the hiring was done in a bid to curb county government wastage.
“The monies that are being used to pay these ghost workers could be put to better use by implementing development projects instead,” the governor said.
He also bemoaned the high rate of staff absenteeism, claiming that it would no longer be business as usual in the county government’s daily operations.
In a rebuttal, Lamu County Public Service Board Chairman Abdalla Fadhil stated that the appointments were done legally and were approved by both the county executive and the county assembly.
He also absolved himself of responsibility for hiring ghost workers, claiming that the county payroll had been streamlined during his tenure.
“LCPSB’s work has been beyond reproach and the county executive needs to be aware that hiring, recruitment and retiring of staff is a continuous process aimed at ensuring the county government’s operations run smoothly,” Fadhil said.
