Get rid of defiant staff, county bosses told

Governors have been told to push for “massive reorganisation” of their workforce to enable them deliver on their pledges and development plans.

Mr Julius Kipng’etich, Equity Bank’s chief operating officer, told the governors they would have to take the difficult route of having some civil servants shown the door because they were not prepared for devolution.

“Leadership is about having willing followers. The reality you have on the ground is that you have no followers,” said Mr Kipng’etich, a former head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, credited with putting it in the right track.

“You need to negotiate for a massive reorganisation of the public service. If you don’t do that, you will not be re-elected. The public service wasn’t prepared for devolution. I know them. Some of them might have swallowed you already,” he said.

He told the county chiefs at the on-going Governors’ Summit in Naivasha that, without workers who knew what their agenda was, they would have a dismal record at the end of their terms.

After the reorganisation, he said, the governors would then pick staff they could work with and the rest would have to leave.

The former KWS head was clear before he made his proposals in the afternoon session Monday that they would be radical and controversial.

SIMILAR CALLS

Previous suggestions to trim the workforce have been criticised because it would amount to cutting, rather than creating jobs. Deputy President William Ruto has been criticised in the past for suggesting some civil servants needed to be sent home.

Among the complaints by the governors has been that they inherited a bloated workforce from the county councils and the ministries whose functions they took over and have been paying salaries at the expense of development.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero also spoke about this. “We would like to surround ourselves with good people but sometimes they are not there. The devolved workforce has more ghost workers,” he said.

Mr Kipng’etich caused a stir when he advised governors from large counties to buy helicopters to enable them move faster within their regions.

Citing Turkana County, he said it would only be practical to have a governor fly from one village to another rather than drive for five hours.

He also advised the governors to set up county radio stations to help communicate with their constituents as well as get their views.

Another of his ideas was a negotiation with the national government to change Schedule Four of the Constitution and have the counties take over the education and security functions.

Attorney General Githu Muigai said it was perhaps time to revisit the huge debate started when the law was being drafted about the role of the governor in the County Security Committee.