Governor Natembeya to audit county workers after 3 years

Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya now says county workers will have three-year probation before an audit is done to rate their work.

Speaking during the commissioning of a road maintenance project in Babton, Sikhendu Ward, in Kiminini, the county boss said his team has hit the ground running and is now ready to work for the people.

Natembeya blamed prolonged court cases for delayed progress to shift to the new administration.

“Sisi tumeanza kazi, imetuchukua muda kidogo kwa sababu tulikuwa tunaunda serikali. Kuna wale wahuni kiasi walikua wametupeleka kortini bila sababu. Baada ya miaka mitatu kuna watu watakuja kufanya audit. Wale mamefanya kazi vizuri wanarudishwa na wale wengine wenye hawajafanya kazi wanaenda nyumbani,” he said.

Loosely translated, “We have already started working although there were delays due to court cases. After three years there will be an audit to determine who stays and who leaves.”

This comes barely months after Natembeya constituted a task force to carry out a forensic audit into the county books of accounts and the human resource registers.

The seven-member task force was tasked with dealing with the issue of pending bills and staffing.

Ghost workers

The governor said that the task force will advise, verify and guide on the settlement of genuine pending bills before payment is done and undertake an audit of human resources and staff to weed out ghost workers.

He dismissed claims that his administration was deliberately reluctant to clear bills left behind by the government of his predecessor Patrick Khaemba, saying all genuine bills will be paid once verified.

“There is a notion that my government is not willing to pay the bills, which is not true. All bills will be paid once the committee is through with verification,” he said.