One governor with 51 personal advisers, another with school dropout as chief of staff
Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has revealed that some of governors in the country have violated the guidelines from the Salary and Remuneration Commission which stipulates the number of staff that the governor must have.
The commission’s CEO, Twalib Mbarak, has also revealed shocking details of how one governor, whose identity he didn’t reveal, has 51 personal advisors at his disposal.
“It is reported that in one county, the Governor hired 51 personal advisors while in another, the Governor has allegedly recruited a Form 2 dropout as the chief of staff. Relatedly, there are numerous reports of Governors recruiting Advisors with limited or no academic qualifications,” Mr Mbarak said.
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He said the governors are expected to limit their personal staff to the positions of chief of staff; economic advisor; political advisor; legal advisor; director of governor’s press service, and support staff (personal assistant, personal secretary, cook, driver, messenger and gardener) by the prevailing guidelines.
In a statement issued to all 47 governors, EACC said cases of illegal and irregular recruitment of personal staff for the governors’ offices are worrying.
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The anti-graft body said county bosses who will be found culpable will be held personally liable for any loss of public funds occasioned by the illegal recruitments.
“The Commission wishes to remind governors who may have or intend to recruit staff in violation of the law and guidelines that they shall be held personally liable for any loss, unauthorized expenditure, or over-expenditure of government revenue and other resources occasioned by recruitment of such excess staff in their respective counties,” Mbarak said.
EACC added that other HR malpractices in the counties include employment of staff without any need at all, recruitment of unqualified persons, payroll fraud through ghost workers, retaining retired staff in the payroll, and county executives hiring or promoting staff without any reference to the County Public Service Boards.
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