The county government is recovering what it terms as irregular allowances amid accusations that Governor Amos Nyaribo is out to frustrate workers he inherited from the late John Nyagarama.
Some employees are reported to have allocated themselves hefty “special allowances” not consistent with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) regulations.
Public Service CEC Thomas Nyariki on Tuesday said the process is part of the efforts to clean the payroll.
Recently, a list of 1,500 employees who allegedly benefitted from fraudulent job promotions was made public before they were all demoted and their salaries revised downwards. The workers will be surcharged.
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“In one of the scenarios, an officer has been paid what has been indicated in their payslip as ‘special house allowance’ and it is more than double what SRC provides for those in that job group. What we are doing is regularise payments of salaries and allowances to ensure such problems don’t occur again,” said Nyariki.
The most affected workers are ward administrators said to have been enjoying the “special house allowance” of Sh40,000 per month against SRC’s provision of Sh25,000.
Nyariki did not state the number of affected employees and how much they are hoping to recover, but noted that they are senior staff who are keen to protect their unlawfully earned payments.
“The process will be gradual, fair and transparent,” he said.
On Friday, Nyaribo (below) and Borabu MP Ben Momanyi clashed in public over the move, with the legislator accusing the county boss of frustrating staff he inherited from the former governor’s administration.
“Some of the people you are frustrating worked tirelessly to look for votes that put you and your predecessor into office. Stop humiliating them,” Momanyi told Nyaribo during a meeting.
But Nyaribo dismissed the MP’s accusations, saying what he is doing will save millions of taxpayers cash.
“What kind of leadership will we be offering if we protect evil deeds? Nyamira has not had serious development because a lot of money is going into falsified salary schemes. All we are doing is for the good of the county and God is my witness,” Nyaribo said.
The governor said the clean-up will happen in phases. “The next phase will involve getting rid of employees who were hired irregularly, some without the required qualifications.”
