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Old guard in panic after audit


Years of wasted blood, toil and life. That is how Peter Kinyanjui describes his more than two decades stay at the defunct City Council of Nairobi if he is sacked without a comprehensive send-off package.

Kinyanjui has worked for the County government for 25 years without rising a grade above the lowest.

“I’m still grade 18. I have never known when salaries are increased. I only work and get the pay to educate my children,” said Kinyanjui.

The 47-year-old father of four sat for his Certificate of Primary Education in 1983. He never proceeded to secondary school.

Since 1988, he has been at the cleaning department, and has swept streets and pavements ever since.

The county Public Service Board recently announced it had rolled out a head count that would see more than 5,000 workers shown the door.

This has sent shivers down Kinyanjui’s spine.

Bottom heavy

Workers with little education and who have stagnated in their positions for long will be top on the chopping board’s list.

On the other side of  City Hall, Wanjiru Karanja has worked for more than 30 years. She is worried that the send-off package might not be enough.

“I don’t mind leaving. What I want is something that will make my retirement bearable,” she said.

According to the Board’s chairman Phillip Kung’u, City Hall’s work force is bottom heavy, meaning majority are low cadre and  unskilled.

He said almost 6,000 workers are redundant although the ongoing audit will give exact figures.

“The audit of the talent we have is not just to cut the numbers down. We might realise the 6,000 that will remain are not enough hence the need to employ more,” said Mr Kung’u.

The audit, which has seen workers present documents to the HR director has caused panic in many.