COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF MERU

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

SPEECH BY GOVERNOR KIRAITU TO ALL MEMBERS OF STAFF OF MERU COUNTY GOVERNMENT, THIIRI CENTRE, 6^TH JANUARY, 2018

Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me begin by wishing each and every one of you a very happy, successful and prosperous 2018. I believe we all have rested and enjoyed with our families and friends over Xmas and New Year holidays, and we are all energized to continue with our struggle of Making Meru Great, with even greater enthusiasm, passion and commitment.

I want to welcome all of you, even those who have been on prolonged leave, to this historic meeting. You are all in my army, and as you know, I have assumed leadership of this army.

The year 2018 is a very special year for us. This is the year we are all going to work very hard, to Make Meru Great. Meru is blessed with enormous natural and human resources. It is my firm belief, that if we work hard, we shall prosper. We shall be the glory of Kenya.

We have a great challenge, as the people of Meru, regardless of gender, age, clan, religion, political party, economic or social status, to MAKE MERU GREAT. We have to work to introduce a radical shift in the governance system of Meru County to ensure a rapid socio-economic transformation of our County.

As the Governor of Meru, I don’t care where you come from, who you are related to, or for whom you voted in the last general elections. I only want to know one thing: WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MAKE MERU GREAT?

The task of Making Meru Great cannot be carried out by the Governor alone. All I have is a big dream. I am the Architect of Making Meru Great. But for me to build this house, I need your help and support. I need quantity surveyors, financiers, contractors, masons and carpenters. This is why I have called you here today.

They say, a great leader does not rely on his own personal achievements. He unleashes the talents of others. I want to unleash your talents to Make Meru Great. The staff, is the most critical resource, in the success or failure of the project of Making Meru Great. We cannot make Meru Great with a disillusioned, underpaid, and demoralized staff. I want to have efficient staff full of energy, enthusiasm and creativity. I want to invest in staff development, and make Meru County Government a very happy place to work. I want our staff to live a happy, dignified and fulfilling lives in their families and our society. That is why we have formed the Meru County Staff Sacco to provide you with cheap affordable loans.

I want our staff to be trained and promoted, so that they can pursue excellence and give the best service to our County. As your leader, I have decided to go the extra mile for the staff of Meru County in 2018.

However, even as we are doing so, we are confronted by a very ugly staff reality. I have to be very frank and honest with you; something is seriously wrong with our civil service. We have inherited bloated, overstaffed and overlapping structures sometimes manned by incompetent, absent, irresponsible, lethargic, underpaid, demoralized and fossilized staff, without any sense of direction, excitement, organisational culture or discipline.

In October 2017, we contracted very reputable human resource consultants, Deloitte Consulting Ltd to undertake a staff headcount, competency and integrity audit. They have given us a preliminary report, and we expect the final report with their recommendations by 15^th of this month.

As at 23^rd October 2017, 5,822 persons were employed by the County Government. Of these 4,601 were employed on permanent and pensionable terms, while 1, 030 were employed as casuals. Our total wage bill is about Kshs. 7 billion out of the total revenue of about Kshs. 9 billion. When the head count was done; 1,783 employees did not show up. I believe most of these are ghost workers.

There has been illegal, irregular and erratic recruitment, posting, discipline, promotion and redeployment of staff. Most casual employees have been retained and paid, although they have no contract with the County Government. Some departments have been understaffed by over 80% while others have been overstaffed by almost 40%.

Staff disciplinary procedures have not been followed, and many members of staff who should have been summarily dismissed are still in office.

More than 500 members of staff were recruited and over 600 staff members were promoted during the campaign period in 2017. Huge sums of money, about Kshs. 40 million, was paid to 10 members of staff including Sub County and Ward Administrators as imprest between January 2017 and August 2017, some of which has not been surrendered to date. Skills analysis show that only 17% of County staff have university degrees, and critical professional skills such as lawyers, engineers, accountants, surveyors, medical personnel and procurement officers are in short supply. There is serious skills mismatch, and some senior members of staff are performing duties which they were not recruited for.

Over 55% of staff, more than 2,000 employees are over 40 years. We need to recruit more youth in the County Government as the youth are more energetic, better educated and more professionally qualified.

Gender activists will be surprised to learn that the County Government has 2,827 female employees and only 1, 776 male employees.

Some members of staff have been involved in economic crimes. Some have stolen or embezzled county funds, some have been collecting market fees for themselves, some have conspired with contractors to inflate tenders and share the money, and some are negligent, and have no idea what is happening in their departments.

We cannot allow this situation to continue. The longer we wait, the worse it will become, and we shall not realize our dream of Making Meru Great. We cannot solve our staff problems by merely talking about them. We must do something. We must act. After we receive the final report, we shall consider its recommendations and take necessary action.

As you are all aware, I have appointed chief officers, who are currently being vetted by the County Assembly. We shall undertake a reorganization of the departments as soon as they report to work. The CECs, with the support of the COs, will be fully in charge and responsible for the staff and the affairs of their departments.

We have to do a pay roll clean-up and staff rationalization.

We shall introduce a strict regime of organisational culture and discipline. We know some people will not be happy. It is not possible to please everyone. We expect opposition from those who have benefitted from the chaos, theft and organisational disarray of the past. Some will organize marches and demonstrations against us. But if we fear demonstrations and don’t carry out the reforms, our problems will increase and become worse. We shall not realize our dream of Making Meru Great.

It is not our intention to witch-hunt, victimize or punish anyone. We are merely streamlining our organisational structures and making our staff more efficient, so that we can deliver better services to the people of Meru. If you have done your job well, you have nothing to fear. You will be happier.

Sorry, I have had to pass this not too happy New Year message to you. But it is necessary for you to understand what we are doing and the challenges ahead of us. I wish all of you a very happy and memorable 2018

THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS US ALL