On Wednesday, the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) learned that Nyeri County employs 102 rat catchers.
The governor of Nyeri, Mutahi Kahiga, who spoke before the committee to answer audit questions for the 2019/2020 fiscal year, said that this department is one of several that would be let off in an effort to reduce the city’s pay bill.
We’re considering our options for announcing their release. The governor told the panel that “we do not want to have individuals roaming about doing nothing.”
He explained that since Nyeri had been the province capital prior to the Constitution of 2010, most of these practices had been carried over from the previous administration.
A redundancy announcement is part of a larger plan to reduce the payroll expense.
Sh3,592,854,332 was allocated to staff pay, or 52% of total revenue, according to the audit (Sh6,956,824,044).
According to Regulation 25 (1) (b) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015, the percentage of expenditures that must come from reserves is 35%; this amount was surpassed.
The Auditor General found that the County of Nyeri spent a disproportionate amount of money on salaries for its employees, which reduced funding for development projects and had a negative effect on service delivery to the people of Nyeri.
According to Kahiga, all employees of the now-defunct Nyeri Municipal Council, Karatina Municipal Council, Othaya Town Council, and Nyeri County Council have been absorbed into the County.
He told the committee that while some of the inherited employees “had the skills to assist the County to achieve its mandate,” others did not, and that the county had to hire new people to fill the voids.
He explained that the County Staffing plan was made to help them figure out how many people they need working for the County so that they may save money on salaries.
To meet the goals of the County Government as outlined in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) 2018-2022, the plan was designed to cover the years 2018-2023, as he indicated.
