The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has warned the governors against breaching the law by employing personal staff.
According to the commission, there are increased cases of illegal and irregular recruitment of personal staff in county governments.
EACC said that there are reports that one governor hired 51 Personal Advisors. In contrast, 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.
Other HR malpractices in the counties include staff employment without any need, recruitment of unqualified persons and payroll fraud through ghost workers.
There are also retaining retired staff in the payroll and county executives hiring or promoting staff without any reference to the County Public Service Boards.
Each governor is 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) in accordance with the prevailing Guidelines.
“Those found culpable will be held personally liable for any loss of public funds occasioned by the illegal recruitments,” said EACC.
