2,500 to be sacked in Kenyan ministry jobs scandal

At least 2,500 civil servants recruited on permanent terms six months ago are to be sacked next week in one of the biggest jobs scandal in government.

The sacking, ordered by the Public Service Commission (PSC), follows an audit that revealed massive irregularities in their recruitment conducted by the Education Ministry.

The audit by the Treasury says the recruitment, selection and appointment of the workers did not follow regulations and instructions governing staffing in government.

The irregularities affected 2,588 staff employed as adult education teachers, library assistants and supply chain officers.

Others were to be employed as clerical officers, electricians, artisans, plumbers and storemen. PSC had delegated the hiring to the Education ministry.

The revelation is likely to thrust the ministry under an even greater spotlight following the year-long probe into loss of billions of shillings meant for the free primary education programme.

It also comes at a time when a forensic audit by the Treasury showed that the ministry could not account for around Sh8.4 billion over a four-year period.

In an audit done in July last year, the Treasury discovered that Sh234 million of education funding could not be properly accounted for, prompting the subsequent audit which has unearthed a much bigger financial management problem.

The anomalies in the recruitment were summed up in a letter by Public Service Permanent Secretary Titus Ndambuki who said 436 people whose names were published in a Daily Nation advertisement on June 23, 2010, as having passed interviews for the jobs had not even applied for the posts.

They were, therefore, not shortlisted for the interviews, raising questions as to how they ended up being classified as successful.

Mr Ndambuki said 344 individuals were issued with appointment letters yet they were not on the list of successful candidates as advertised in the media.

Some 239 candidates who were successful and had their names placed in the newspaper did not receive formal appointment letters.

This means their vacancies may have been taken up by people who were sneaked in and issued with official appointment letters without attending and passing the interviews.

Mr Ndambuki said the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission had been invited to investigate the exercise. All those who had been recruited, he said, should be deemed to have been engaged on temporary terms of service with effect from the day they reported to duty.

Their last working day should be December 31, or Friday next week. “It is directed that all posts be readvertised for competitive filling in strict compliance with the service regulations and instructions,” Mr Ndambuki said in the letter dated December 15.

His letter was written just a day after PSC secretary Bernadette Nzioki wrote to Education permanent secretary James ole Kiyiapi notifying him of the nullification of the exercise.

“All the appointees (should) be deemed to have been engaged on temporary terms of service with effect from the date(s) they assumed duties of the posts up to and including December 31, 2010,” Ms Nzioki said.

She copied her letter to Mr Ndambuki and Finance permanent secretary Joseph Kinyua. The process of filling the positions by the Education ministry started last year following a circular by the Public Service ministry.

Prof Karega Mutahi was the Education permanent secretary at the time and Prof Sam Ongeri the minister. Prof Kiyiapi unmasked the scandal in a letter to the Public Service ministry on October 12.

He said he had found it impossible to conclude the process “until the various issues touching on its credibility were resolved”. Mr Ndambuki then advised Prof Kiyiapi to refer the matter to the PSC, which is responsible for human resource audits.

On Sunday, Prof Kiyiapi said he had requested the PSC to retain those who were hired procedurally. “If the commission rules that all of them should be sent home then I will have no option but to let them go and I advertise the positions,” he said.

However, the Kenya National Union of Civil Servants secretary, Mr Tom Odege, criticised the move, saying workers were being punished for the mistakes of the big shots.

“The people who oversaw the exercise are known and they should be brought to book,” he said. Prof Kiyiapi said the ultimate solution lay with the PSC and that he would abide by whatever decision the commission reached.

“If they stick to their decision, we will do that but it will be expensive. Those hired are innocent victims of internal weaknesses in the ministry. I have invited Kacc to come and find out what had happened.”

The recruitment scandal comes up as international pressure is piling on the Government to act over corruption in the education sector.

Development partners, including the World Bank, Britain’s Department for International Development, Unicef and the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida), want names of all Education staff implicated in the loss of funds to be handed over to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.

The donors also want financial management in the ministry streamlined.