By Reporter
Sacked health workers at the County Government of Siaya on Monday suffered double pain after their peaceful demonstration was scuttled by goons who unleashed violence on them at the county headquarters.
The demonstrators sustained injuries, with some of them covered in blood after goons descended on them at the county headquarters.
The sacked employees had intended to present a petition to Governor James Orengo but faced the brunt of the goons who unleashed terror on them.
“We had a peaceful demonstration to present our petition to the governor but infuriatingly some people unleashed goons on us. We demand to be heard and not to be beaten,” they said.
The county recently sacked 382 health workers over what was termed as fraudulent employment after an exposé by the EACC.
Orengo calmed the situation and told the demonstrators that his government was committed to ending corruption in the county.
While addressing the group—many of whom had been working in the health department—he said:
“The law is clear. Public jobs cannot be bought or traded in backrooms. Those who colluded to exploit desperate job seekers will be exposed,” Orengo said, adding that beginning Friday, he would personally review each of the contested letters.
Earlier, Orengo had declared that he would not interfere with the ongoing inquiry on the sacked health workers by the County Public Service Board.
Orengo said he had received petitions from a number of persons expressing concerns for purportedly having been unfairly dismissed by the County Government of Siaya from service in the Health Department. He said a similar petition had also been presented to the County Assembly of Siaya.
“At this stage I do not wish to compromise or interfere with the enquiry or interventions that will be undertaken by the County Assembly or any other investigations that may be launched by the agencies of Kenya’s criminal justice system. I urge them all to carry out thorough investigations and expose this scam for what it is. It would also be necessary to conduct lifestyle audits on some of the individuals who could be persons of interest. Those found responsible and liable must be punished for this callous and criminal enterprise,” he said.
He said his government would cooperate fully and abide, in accordance with the law, with each and all recommendations and resolutions made by the County Assembly and other relevant state organs, including the enforcement of administrative action.
The governor said there was need to engage with the victims and address their plight in the context of the manner in which the issue arose.
“There are clear procedures for qualified persons to be appointed and deployed as part of the staff establishment. Jobs must be advertised. Applications must be made and interviews conducted. That is the only path for qualified persons to be appointed and become employees of the County Public Service,” he said.
Orengo said it was necessary to examine all the individual cases of the complainants to confirm whether indeed they got their appointment and deployment lawfully and regularly.
“The case is made worse when there are whispers that there was fraudulent activity. It is alleged that there were exchanges of money, which would completely taint and render any alleged appointment null and void,” he said.
He said the process initiated by the County Assembly of Siaya would give the petitioners an opportunity to establish the legality of the purported appointments.
“We urge the County Assembly to expedite the hearing and determination of the petition before them and note that the Assembly had directed that the Executive should not take any action until the conclusion of the proceedings before the Assembly. Noting the public outrage over this issue, we urge the Assembly to conclude this matter in a fortnight rather than a month,” he said.
Recently, 382 health workers were dismissed by the Siaya County Government over claims they were irregularly hired using forged documents.
The County Public Service Board said an audit carried out with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations revealed massive irregularities in the recruitment process.
Siaya County Public Service Board Chief Executive Officer, Wilfred Ouma Nyagudi, explained that the investigation uncovered glaring discrepancies.
“We noted several issues. Some of them were inconsistencies in the sequence of reference letters. Any letter we issue, such as deployments, must be signed by the chief of health. We had cases where somebody had a deployment letter dated earlier than their appointment,” Nyagudi said.
