NAIROBI, Kenya July 8 – The Kenya Local Government Workers Union (KLGWU) is contesting an audit report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that claimed Nairobi City council (NCC) has more than 4,000 ghost workers.
The union’s Nairobi Staff Secretary Fetsus Ngari said KLGWU was not involved in the exercise and the report failed to recognise that members of staff can be transferred from one department to another.
“The union must be involved so that they bring on board all the stakeholders to define who a ghost is and who a genuine worker is,” he said.
KLGWU Nairobi Branch Secretary Benson Olianga demanded that all sacked workers be reinstated, failure to which he threatened industrial action.
“Whenever any exercise of this nature takes place, union officials must be involved together with the labour officer. This was not done and we are saying that the exercise was a sham,” he said.
The report, which was released about a month ago, said City Hall has been paying salaries to 4,215 nonexistent employees. Some of those affected following the exercise have expressed dismay for being expunged from the payroll.
“I was employed on January 29, 1979. Surprising enough, my name does not appear in the computer on the payroll,” said Elizabeth Alokhaba.
Maimuna Ali, another affected person said, “I was employed by the council in April 1979. I was working there all the time and now that I’m approaching retirement. Am I being called a thief?”
They said they had made all efforts to comply with PwC’s requirements during the headcount.
“I went all the way to Kakamega to get my birth certificate. I went everywhere collecting each and every document that they needed from me. Now I am wandering what is happening,’ Mrs Alokhaba stated.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Mrs Ali. “Finding my name missing from the register has surprised me greatly,” Mrs Ali said.
More than 500 Nairobi City Council employees lost their jobs following the completion of the staff audit by PwC.
According to Town Clerk Philip Kisia people with genuine cases were given time to defend themselves but none turned up.
During the headcount, all City Council workers were required to produce their birth certificates, ID cards, NSSF and NHIF membership cards, latest pay slip, two passport size photographs, staff numbers, academic and professional certificates.