Former Nakuru County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Ann Nyambura Njenga who served in three ministries under the previous regime when she appeared before the county assembly Labour committee on January 19, 2019 for vetting after she was nominated by Governor Lee Kinyanjui to the position of Chief officer in the Ministry of Public Service. [Photo: Kennedy Gachuhi]

A former county executive, who served in three dockets under the previous regime, was yesterday taken to task over her performance.

Appearing before the County Assembly Committee for Labour, Ann Nyambura Njenga (pictured) — who served as an executive for Finance, Public Service, and Trade and Tourism — was asked to explain what ailed the dockets while she was the head.

Ms Njenga was being vetted for the position of Chief Officer of Public Service after her name was submitted by Governor Lee Kinyanjui as the only nominee for the post.

“Having worked as the executive for Public Service I understand matters affecting the docket and am ready to serve as a chief officer in the same ministry. I will be able to implement what I did not manage to implement as an executive,” she said.

When she served as executive for Public Service, the docket was dogged by controversy over a bloated workforce that caused the county’s wage bill to balloon.

3,000 workers

Njenga explained the county government inherited over 3,000 workers from municipalities who did not have specialised skills. An audit revealed the county government had 4,830 workers on payroll by August 2018.

She said attempts to reduce the number of workers and replace them with more qualified personnel hit the wall. “We tried to send some workers home but we landed in court, incurring huge bills in fines and legal fees. We were left with no option but to hire more people whom we needed,” said Njenga.

She was also asked to explain how 23 ghost workers pocketed Sh26 million per year without being detected.

Njenga explained that since devolution had just been implemented, the first county government lacked mechanism to detect such rot, but this was no longer a challenge.

Also vetted yesterday was nominee for Trade and Tourism Executive Evelyn Milgo, a former assistant manager at Kenya Revenue Authority.

Milgo, who resigned to vie for Kuresoi North parliamentary seat in 2017 said boosting revenue collection would raise money to fund county projects.