Up to 60,000 civil servants have been moved to the 47 counties in a fresh attempt to staff the devolved units. Public Service Commission chairperson Margaret Kobia announced that salaries of the workers would be paid through the county governments from this month. This may to lead to a delay in paying salaries to civil servants for up to one week, although commission expressed the confidence that all staff would have been paid by the first week of February. Yesterday, council of governors chairman Isaac Ruto said the counties had been preparing for the new workers and were up to the task. He added that those worrying they could lose their pension were misguided. SERIOUS BUSINESS “Nothing is going to be lost; the salaries, benefits, pension and allowances will still remain as they were in the national government,” Mr Ruto, who is also the Bomet Governor said. “In fact, those coming from the national government may be moved to higher job groups in some cases. This shows the seriousness we have in devolution,” he said. He defended governors accused of being on a recruitment spree. “Governors recruit according to their needs, they have a structure to follow, counties may choose to return seconded persons to the national government if need be,” he said. The bulk of staff who have been moved are those between job group P and below. These are junior and some middle level staff and clerks. Staff who will be retained at the national level are senior workers and policy makers, including chief human resource officers, directors and their assistants. Most of those going to the counties are in job group L, M and N, Prof Kobia said. The government has a workforce of about 215,000. Salaries and Remuneration Commission chairperson Sarah Serem said the team would be monitoring every county to check whether they have a sustainable wage bill. Ms Serem criticised governors who had rushed to recruit new staff before those from the national government were posted. This, she said, was likely to hinder performance which will be evaluated in terms of cost and efficiency. “Governors should have recruited only to fill gaps instead of starting afresh, which is likely to have bloated county governments,” Ms Serem said. She added that the county governments should have conducted an audit to determine the staff they needed. “Our mandate will be to evaluate the performance of those counties to determine whether they have a sustainable wage bill which can only be achieved if the counties have optimal numbers of workers,” she said. PAYROLL TRANSFERRED The national government transferred devolved functions to county governments except the payrolls that were retained for six months during the transition. The transfer of payrolls began on January 6, with Devolution Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru saying the national government had installed the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database system in all the 47 counties. She said the ministry had trained 219 officers on labour management in the counties. On Tuesday, the Nation established that payslips for the workers to be moved to counties had been printed. Prof Kobia said governors who decline to take up the transferred staff would be required to write letters to the national government to explain why they cannot take them. Staff who fail to find work in counties due to lack of vacancies would be encouraged to apply for other jobs and would receive first priority during the recruitment. The national government is also seeking to ensure equal distribution of workers who have been devolved. Hardship areas were the worst hit with shortage of staff among them Northern Kenya. Workers in some counties would be moved to other devolved units which need them. Some civil servants have been fighting to be retained in the national government because they did not want to move to rural areas. Last week, President Kenyatta said the government lost Sh1.8 billion to ghost workers annually and ordered an audit of the payroll. His announcement was followed this week by an advertisement from the Devolution ministry, inviting firms to apply to perform the task of auditing government records. INADEQUATE INFORMATION According to data obtained from the Controller of Budget yesterday, after the March 4 General Election last year, counties had inadequate information on items to include in their budgets. They allocated Sh74.7 billion for payments of personnel emoluments for the financial year 2013/2014. This represents 45.9 per cent of the total recurrent budget for counties and 25.9 per cent of the total budget for all the counties. “For instance, it was not clear whether counties would include salaries for staff from the national government for the devolved functions,” said budget controller Agnes Odhiambo. “Counties were also uncertain on the amount of funds available to them as equitable share due to the protracted disagreement between the National Assembly and the Senate on the Division of Revenue Bill,” she added. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the county governments spent Sh7.11 billion of the total expenditure on staff compensation. This excludes payroll for staff seconded to the counties for the devolved functions, according to the statistics. In the first quarter of 2013/2014, the devolved function payroll costs amounting to Sh11.8 billion were paid by the ministries, departments and agencies under the national government, and counties are expected to reimburse these costs to the central government. So far, counties which have recorded the highest expenditure on personnel emoluments are Nairobi at Sh1.80 billion, Mombasa (Sh566.97 million) and Kiambu (Sh299.96). On the other hand, counties with the lowest expenditure on personnel include Lamu (Sh28.9 million), Elgeyo Marakwet (Sh32.5 million) and West Pokot (Sh37.7 million). Counties that have had the highest proportion of their expenditures on personnel emoluments over the total expenditure are Kisii (83.7 per cent), West Pokot (81.4 per cent), and Kisumu (79.3 per cent) while those with the lowest proportions are Turkana (14.9 per cent ), Bomet (19.5 per cent ), and Makueni (30.9 per cent). PROCESS Public service audit This will involve institutional review, restructuring, assessing skills and competencies, establishing the correct numbers, staff redeployment, transfers and separation to ensure quality service delivery. The audit will exempt state corporations, independent commissions and offices, and the disciplined services. The work is expected to be complete in three months and a report submitted to the President for further action. The auditor is expected to develop a strategy and framework for capacity assessment and rationalisation programme for public service at both tiers of government and recommend appropriate organisational structures for each county.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:07:49 +0000
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