Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

 Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka

Garissa Governor Ali Korane’s administration is on the radar of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over allegations of illegal recruitments.

Anti-graft team wants to know how some 85 staff members were employed without following legal procedures, including job advertisement, shortlisting, and interviews.

Detectives are also looking into how one of the employees got a senior job group and salary increment without due procedure.

EACC team will also interrogate lists of applicants, whether budget provisions were considered, and shortlisted and successful candidates for the Financial Year 2018/2019.

They will also target reports and other documents by the County Public Service Board in relation to their interviews.

This even as details emerged that the County Secretary, Abdi Ali, has purportedly employed his wife and brother in the county’s top job.

Documents in our possession indicate that Ali has hired his wife, Basra Ahmed Abdullahi, in the Department of Lands and Public works and his brother, Muhiyadin Muhamed Ali, an ECDE teacher. 

It was not immediately established whether the two positions were advertised and shortlisted for their respective jobs.

However, the case lifts the lid on the rot in devolved units where senior executives break every law to hire relatives, friends, and cronies.

“What does he insinuate by employing his kinsmen? This is a clear case of nepotism and abuse of office,” a source who petitioned EACC but sought anonymity said. 

“This is the very reason why our county is grappling with a bloated workforce there by spending more money on salaries and meagre on development,” the source added. 

Contacted by People Daily, County Secretary harshly responded: “No comment. The interview should stop there.”

However, efforts to get the County Public Service Board response was unsuccessful as the board chairperson Ebla Sahal did not return calls or respond to text messages.