SIAYA, Kenya Sept 18 \u2013 Siaya Governor James Orengo\u00a0has called for comprehensive investigations into the county\u2019s recent employment scandal, which saw more than 380 individuals\u2014allegedly hired earlier this year\u2014abruptly laid off.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a press conference held in his boardroom, Governor Orengo urged the\u00a0Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)\u00a0to conduct\u00a0lifestyle audits\u00a0on individuals implicated in the scam, in which job seekers were allegedly defrauded of millions of shillings.<\/p>\n
Orengo also appealed to the\u00a0Siaya County Assembly\u00a0to expedite its consideration and determination of a petition submitted by victims of the scandal, saying swift action would enable the county executive to take the necessary follow-up measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the public outrage over this issue, we urge the Assembly to conclude this matter within a fortnight, rather than in a month,\u201d said the Governor.<\/p>\n
He was accompanied by County Secretary\u00a0Joseph Ogutu, County Executive Committee Member for Health\u00a0Dr. Martin K\u2019Onyango, among other senior officials.
Governor Orengo affirmed his administration\u2019s willingness to fully cooperate with all relevant investigative bodies and to implement recommendations from the County Assembly and other state organs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are clear procedures for qualified persons to be appointed and deployed within the county staff establishment. Jobs must be advertised, applications submitted, and interviews conducted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the only legitimate path for qualified individuals to join the county public service.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked by journalists, Orengo confirmed that his administration has no records of any official advertisement inviting job applications earlier this year. He emphasized that such processes must be tied to both\u00a0available vacancies\u00a0and\u00a0budgetary allocations.
He further noted that his administration is currently grappling with efforts to comply with the\u00a0national policy\u00a0requiring that the county\u2019s\u00a0wage bill not exceed 35%\u00a0of the total budget.<\/p>\n
The scandal came to light last week when\u00a0Siaya County Public Service Board CEO Wilfred Nyagudi\u00a0announced that the county had dismissed\u00a0more than 380 individuals\u00a0who had reported to the Health Department with\u00a0forged employment documents.<\/p>\n
Nyagudi said the board undertook an\u00a0authentication exercise\u00a0after complaints that some of the newly hired staff had gone without pay for nearly eight months. <\/p>\n
According to him, only\u00a0120 workers\u00a0were officially recruited through a rigorous interview process and issued with authentic appointment letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were surprised when the number of those reporting for work suddenly ballooned,\u201d he said.
\u201cIt appears that a syndicate took advantage of the situation to forge appointment letters and issue them to unsuspecting youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The incident has triggered widespread condemnation, with affected individuals staging protests and submitting a formal petition to the County Assembly demanding reinstatement.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, pressure has continued to mount on Governor Orengo, with area MPs\u00a0Samuel Atandi\u00a0(Alego Usonga) and\u00a0Elisha Odhiambo\u00a0(Gem) calling on him to take disciplinary action against certain individuals in his office who have been named as persons of interest in the scandal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SIAYA, Kenya Sept 18 \u2013 Siaya Governor James Orengo\u00a0has called for comprehensive investigations into the county\u2019s recent employment scandal, which saw more than 380 individuals\u2014allegedly hired earlier this year\u2014abruptly laid off. Speaking during a press conference held in his boardroom, Governor Orengo urged the\u00a0Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)\u00a0to conduct\u00a0lifestyle audits\u00a0on individuals implicated in the scam, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}