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A Senate committee has asked Wajir County Government to carry out asset mapping and provide a register of all assets owned by the Wajir Water and Sewerage Company (WAWASCO) and report to the committee within 14 days.

County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee chaired by Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi directed Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi to carry out a human resource audit to ensure lean and efficient staff at the water firm.

The committee also directed the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate past operations of the company for legal action against persons  found culpable of embezzlement.

Governor Abdullahi told the committee that the water firm had more than 500 employees and that the revenue was not sufficient to run its operations.

Genuine employees

Yesterday, Abdullahi said the utility firm was initiated in 2014 and by the end of his term in 2017, there were only 47 genuine employees.

When he was re-elected in the 2022, he said, he found the company’s staff had grown to 500.

“There is no sufficient revenue to run the operations of the company. Liabilities exceed the assets. When I left in 2017, there only about 47 employees. When I came back I found more than 500 employees. We had to do an audit of the workers,” said Abdullahi.

The Governor said they stopped the salaries for 147 employees after they failed to turn up for a head count during audit process.

He told the committee that 100 “ghost” workers were sent away but moved to the Industrial and Labour Court which reinstated them.

Abdullahi said the county government had appealed the decision by the Labour Court since most of those who were sacked did not have a clear job description while others had presented forged documents.

The committee asked Governor Abdullahi to submit to the committee in 14 days comprehensive measures taken to deal with loss of revenue running into millions of shillings annually at the water company.