Nandi, West Pokot governors suspend senior staff

Nandi and West Pokot governors have suspended top county officials to pave way for audits in their departments.

West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo and his Nandi counterpart Stephen Sang defied Thursday warning by the national government not to arbitrarily send home county workers.

Prof Lonyangapuo sent on compulsory leave the county secretary, all county executive committee members, chief officers, directors, administrators, departmental heads and all sub county revenue officers.

They have all been asked to vacate their offices immediately.

PUNISHMENT

The governor, however, assured the suspended staff that his government will treat them fairly and professionally in accordance with the law.

“There will no collective punishment. Those implicated will face the law individually,” he said when he addressed journalists in his office in Kapenguria on Friday.

The county boss said he had instituted special financial and human resource audits and that the officers should go home to give room for the exercise.

“These measures are being undertaken to ensure that our county has a public service that is effective and efficient in its operations and service delivery,” he said.

The governor, who defeated the former county boss Simon Kachapin in the recent elections also dismissed all casual workers except those in the health, sanitation and revenue collection departments.

AUDIT

When he took office, Prof Lonyangapuo promised to ensure to put in place a lean and efficient government.

“The county wage bill has ballooned and it will hard to develop the county since most of the funds will go to salaries. Some of the employees were employed months to the campaign,” he said.

He also said he will initiate another audit of contractors and all financial allocations in the county.

In Nandi, Governor Sang has suspended senior county officers in the department of health and sanitation.

Mr Sang, who took the oath of office on Monday suspended the County Executive Committee Member in Charge of Health Mathew Rotich, together with his Chief Officer Edward Serem and the acting County Director of Health Daniel Kemboi.

EACC

“This is to pave way for investigations into the alleged loss of revenue collected by the health department,” said the governor on Friday.

The county chief has also instructed the county internal auditor to carry out a comprehensive audit on revenue collected in the last four years.

In the radical changes meant to heal the ailing health sector that has witnessed perennial nurses and doctors strike over the last four years, the county boss also dissolved the County Health Management Board and Health Management Committees.

During his inauguration Mr Sang promised prudent utilisation of public resources under his administration and warned corrupt cartels that they will not be tolerated in the county.

On Friday, Governor Sang reiterated that his administration will undertake a staff counting exercise to weed out ghost workers in the county payroll and swore to protect and defend law abiding county employees.

He added that the county will invite the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out a lifestyle audit for some staff members.