The Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) has cautioned governors against hiring excess personal staff.
In a communiqué to all the 47 county bosses, EACC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Twalib Mbarak cited a worrying trend of skyrocketing cases of illegal and irregular recruitment of personal staff for the governors’ offices.
According to the CEO, the affected governors have been recruiting personal staff without the involvement of their respective County Public Service Boards, rendering the exercise illegal.
“It has come to the attention of the Commission that, in some Counties, there is fragrant breach of the existing guidelines on recruitment of staff for the Executive Office of the Governor,” a letter to the governors dated August 31 reads in part.
“…It has been established that some governors continue to flout these requirements, whereby they not only irregularly and Ilegaly recruit staff far exceeding the established unit by creating additional offices; but also do so without the Involvement of the respective County Public Service Board as required under section 59 of the County Governments Act, 2011.”
Under the current guidelines, the EACC boss said, each governor is expected to limit their personal staff to the positions of chief of staff, economic advisor, political advisor, legal advisor, director of governor’s press service, and support staff.
The members of the support staff include governor’s personal assistant, personal secretary, cook, driver, messenger, and gardener.
Governor’s risk prosecution
The commission told the affected governors to take corrective measures in order to comply with the law and guidelines or risk prosecution for financial mismanagement.
“The commission wishes to remind governors who may have or intend to recruit staff in violation of the law and guidelines that they shall be held personally responsible for any loss, unauthorized expenditure, or over-expenditure of government revenue and other resources occasioned by recruitment of such excess staff in their respective counties,” EACC added.
In a separate statement, EACC said it had received reports that in one county, the governor hired 51 personal advisors while in another, the governor allegedly recruited a Form Two dropout as the Chief of Staff.
Other county bosses are accused of hiring persons with limited or no academic qualifications.
“Other HR malpractices in the counties include employment of staff without any need at all, recruitment of unqualified persons, payroll fraud through ghost workers, retaining retired staff in the payroll, and county executives hiring or promoting staff without any reference to the County Public Service Boards,” EACC said.
