The ghost workers saga in Lamu county is far from over after it was unveiled that more than 100 false names were in payroll.
According to this year staff audit, staff validation exercise targeted over 100 work stations in the county and 1,693 personnel in a period of three months.
“We weighed our compliance with constitutional obligations on public service inclusivity which is one of our fundamental aims, through the audit exercise,” Public Service Board chairperson Abdallah Fadhili said.
The audit unearthed 112 questionable employees who despite efforts by the board to have them participate in the audit, were nowhere to be found.
This is contrary to the provisions of Section 65(1) (e) of the County Governments Act, 2012.
The Act states that County Public Service Board should ensure that at least thirty per cent of the vacant posts at the entry level are filled by candidates who are not from the dominant ethnic community.
The board recommended that chief officers in the relevant departments conduct additional inquiries into the existence of the staff in question.
Fadhili said their pay would be suspended until their status was verified and validated.
The county has called on the administration to supervise the recruitment of new personnel in the devolved unit to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations and legislation.
In 2018, Lamu county government admitted that the county has been losing huge sums of money paid to unknown individuals for non-existent jobs in the county.
According to the county, the situation was straining its finances and swore to have the matter resolved before any new contracts are signed.
Many of those employed by the county government have either expired their contracts or are close to reaching the end of their contracts.