Fear has gripped workers at the County Government of Kisumu after the Public Service Board announced a mandatory staff appraisal which is expected to shake the work force of ghost workers.
The new board chaired by Charles Karan was sworn in at City Hall on Tuesday and pronounced the appraisal exercise as a priority in its first week in office.
Karan said the exercise was not targeting any individual adding that for the board to fulfill its mandate all workers must be appraised and placed properly depending on their qualifications.
The announcement comes barely a year after the County Executive conducted a head count for members of staff whose findings are yet to be made public.
According to the chairman, the county has an estimated 5,000 workers with quite a number holding positions on acting capacity.
Karan asked the workers not to panic but participate fully in the exercise to assist the board meet the staffing needs of the devolved unit.
“Our intention is not to fire. We want to look at their qualifications and job description to ascertain whether they
qualify to hold the positions so that we can rearrange them before advertising for vacant positions,” he said.
The county government led by Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o fell out with the previous Public Service Board which was appointed during the term of former governor, Jack Ranguma.
A cross section of staff working in acting capacities or serving on contract have expressed fears over the exercise,
saying they were likely to lose their jobs.
“If you were duly appointed and you are serving at the right place you have no reason to worry,” he said.
“Where there are doubts we are going to look at the recruitment process so that we regularize and ensure that we have the right people in the right place,” he added.
Speaking after the swearing in Ceremony, Kisumu Governor, Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o asked the board members to perform their duties diligently to restore confidence in the public service.
For the county and country to develop, he said there must be a renewed commitment to public service. “We must emulate the public service of the 1970 not what we see nowadays characterized by misappropriation of public resources,” he said.
The Kisumu County Assembly Speaker, Onyango Oloo asked the board to be considerate and compassionate to the thousands of unemployed people who will be seeking to fill some of the positions.
By Chris Mahandara
