Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi has promised not to dismiss County Executive Committee members who worked  with his predecessor James Nyoro but  promised to smoke out ghost workers.

Wamatangi has, however, at the same time promised to retain other senior members of staff inherited from the previous regime, contrary to the norm when incoming county bosses bring on board their own people, especially in key administrative areas.

He gave the 10 CECs and Chief Officers a month to submit reports of their work-plans after which they will be vetted.

Governor was addressing employees from Thika, Juja, Ruiru, Gatundu North and Gatundu South sub-counties at the weekend to map the way forward on service delivery under his administration.

He was accompanied by his deputy Rosemary Kirika.

“As you can see, I have retained all the ministers in the previous administration even if people expected that I will come with a new team. I have no interest in firing people,” Wamatangi stated. In the same breath, county boss has ordered an immediate head count of all county workers with a view to weeding out any ghost employees.

He instructed CECs, Chief Officers and Directors of all departments to register all staff working under them and submit the documented workforce by end of September.

The registration exercise, the governor said, will be undertaken to ensure non-existent workers are deregistered to stop drawing salaries from county coffers.

Wamatangi regretted that while the county has been paying Sh600 million every month in salaries, ghost workers largely benefit from the deep-rooted fraud that he said has been denying legitimate workers better wages.

Stern warning

County chief also sounded a stern warning to corrupt employees, who have been siphoning revenue and referred specifically at stone-mining quarries, markets and bus parks.

“I will deal firmly with people whose main occupation is to loot public funds. I will personally ensure that those who steal our funds face the law, so if you are corrupt then you will not only lose your job, but also find yourself behind bars,” governor warned.

Vowing to make Kiambu a model county within three years, Wamatangi also promised better pay for employees, which will be commensurate with service delivery.

He also vowed to ensure health services are improved and promised to engage medical union officials on the way forward.

County boss also promised to have consultative sessions with workers’ representatives so as to come up with better terms of service including higher pay for all the employees.

The county employees on the other hand expressed frustrations precipitated by a poor leadership that affected their operations.

From lack of printing papers, receipts and key tools to undertake various assignments, the workers took issue with the former county bosses for throwing away humanity and allowing them to work under a hostile environment that resulted in poor service delivery to the people.