City Hall has struck off 500 workers from its payroll, three weeks after an audit report indicated the largest local authority in the country had 4,000 ghost workers.
Their names were removed from the June payroll of the Nairobi City Council (NCC) sparking a row between the council’s chief officers and the Kenya Local Government Workers Union (KLGWU).
On Thursday, KLGWU officials Benson Olianga and Festus Ngari said the union had rejected the findings of the audit report, which they termed inconclusive. The council commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers early this year to determine the number of employees and their qualifications. The World Bank funded the audit to the tune of Sh44 million.
On Thursday, Mr Olianga told The Standard at City Hall the union had already written to Town Clerk Philip Kisia protesting over the removal of the 500 workers from the payroll.
"The action contravenes the Employment Act and was unilaterally taken since there was no council resolution," said Olianga.
He warned that the union would call members to go on strike if the council does not rescind its decision to sack the workers.
Olianga said NCC had claimed the sacked workers could not be traced in any of the departments and were thus non-existent.
"Most of those struck off the payroll were transferred to other departments and cannot be blamed for the missing records. The Human Resource Department is to blame," Olianga claimed.
Mr Kisia said the council will save Sh60 million monthly once the "ghost workers" are weeded out of the payroll.
He said the council spends Sh340 million monthly on salaries for 12,000 employees on its payroll.
Kisia said NCC would not relent in its quest to root out corruption. He added that the audit was the launching pad to streamline the local authority.
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