By P, KNA
Hundreds of employees who were last week declared “ghost workers” by the Siaya County government took to the streets in the town, demanding a transparent audit of the recruitment process.
The more than 300 youthful workers who included nurses, clinicians, laboratory technologists and public health officers marched to the Siaya county assembly, where they presented a petition, before heading to governor James Orengo’s office where they found the gate locked.
Addressing the media outside the county assembly, they called on the relevant government agencies to take up the matter and carry out investigations so as to unearth the truth behind the saga.
Reading a statement on behalf of her colleagues, clinical officer Emily Nabwala Anyango accused the Siaya county public board service chief executive officer, Wilfred Nyagudi of lying that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations had been involved in the verification of documents that led to their dismissal as fake workers despite working for over eight months.
“The CEO of the Siaya county public service board over the media claimed that the CID assisted in verifying ‘fake appointment letters’ and ‘forged’ signatures. This statement is not only false but a deliberate attempt to criminalize and intimidate us” she said.
Anyango said the truth was that not a single health worker has been contacted by the CID to record a statement and nobody has been arrested and charged in court over the alleged forgeries.
She challenged the Kenya Police Service, through the county police commander to issue a public statement over the same and confirm whether such an investigation took place.
His colleague, Felix Omollo who is a pharmaceutical technologist formerly based at Ukwala sub county hospital said the dismissed workers were demanding a public apology from governor James Orengo for the humiliation and defamation they have suffered.
The workers further demanded the immediate payment of their eight-month salary arrears and unconditional re-instatement.
They called on the health workers unions, religious leaders, civil society and the media to help them push for investigations into the latter and bring to book those behind the scandal.
Siaya township ward member of the county assembly, Obiero Otare who addressed the demonstrators outside the assembly said that as legislators, they will not rest until the truth behind the scandal was unearthed.
Last Friday, the Siaya County Public Service Board chairman, Wilfred Nyagudi announced that the county had kicked out more than 380 ghost workers who reported to the health department early this year using forged employment documents.
According to Nyagudi, the board was forced to carry out an authentication exercise targeting over 500 people after hue and cry that those engaged this year had gone without salary for close to eight months.
Addressing the media in his office, Nyagudi said that the board only employed 120 workers who were issued with authentic letters after a rigorous interview exercise and was surprised that while reporting, the number all of a sudden ballooned.
He said that an unscrupulous syndicate appeared to have taken advantage of the situation and forged letters which were issued to unsuspecting youth.
