AG: Sakaja hired 3,834 staff without advert, interviews

The Nairobi County's Executive irregularly employed 3,834 staff without following due process, a report by the Auditor General for the year 2023/2024 has revealed.

The audit highlights that no advertisement was made for the said positions or any shortlisting made during the hiring process making it difficult to audit how they were recruited.

The report says this made it a daunting task to tell if there were vacancies to be filled by the said staff adding that some crucial positions in some departments were filled by unqualified staff.

"An officer was appointed as Director Infrastructure and Information Security despite lacking academic qualifications of Master's Degree in Computer Science or any other ICT related discipline from recognized institution and strategic leadership development course lasting not less than four weeks from a recognized institution," the report reads.

Similarly, the auditor general stated that the recruitment was done for units that could not be traced in the staff establishment, scheme of services and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD).

The staff who could not be traced in the payroll, the report says, were Chief Executive Officers for City County Referral Hospitals and that the county failed to state the minimum requirements which were needed to fill such positions.

The qualifications of Assistant Director of Infrastructure and Information Security were put under scrutiny with the report noting that the officer had not served in the grade of Principal Information Communication Technology (J/GN) as required.

At the same the report highlights that another officer was appointed to the position of Assistant Director Infrastructure and Information Security for job group P while the evaluation of the personnel file shows that the staff member is a system analyst under job group L.

The County Executive was also put on the spot over employment of the security warden officer in job Group 3 D as Senior ICT Officer.

Meanwhile, the County Deputy Director for Cultural Development who was appointed in April 2022 lacked masters in cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, history or any relevant discipline.

The report also highlights how Nairobi County Public Service Board recruited an ICT officer in 2023 despite not meeting the minimum requirements.

The report reads in part, "Review of the personnel file revealed that the staff was appointed as systems analyst (3) JG in February 2024. Further review of the payroll indicated that within the year, the staff changed job groups 3 times."

Further, review of the remittances for August 2023 shows that 74 officers in the executive shared the name and in some instances, some officers' basic salary changed multiple times.