City county workers have low education, report
Majority of workers including senior officers at the Nairobi County hold low academic qualifications, a report shows.
The report by the Labour and Social Welfare Committee tabled in the County Assembly shows that the staff were mainly recruited based on training, discipline, experience and ability to deliver, not academic qualification.
Only one degree holder with a Bachelors of Arts degree from 1989 was found among the county’s divisional commanders, divisional managers and ward managers.
In addition, 30 per cent off the 111 county officers in the same lot lacked any academic credentials, according to the report.
Out of nine divisional commanders, only one had a diploma, four had the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education, two attained A-level education while one had a Primary School education.
The report further reveals skewed regional balance in the county’s work force, although gender parity was achieved.
County Secretary Lillian Ndegwa told the committee that corrective action was being undertaken to comply with the Constitution.
At the county’s departments, most heads claimed that lack of technical know-how had created the gaps recently identified by the Auditor-General.
The Nairobi County Chief Lands Officer, Mr Stephen Mwangi, told a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) session that his department lacked qualified surveyors, while Mr Samson Okello from the procurement office said the county needed prequalified garages due to lack of capacity among its workers.
Environment Director, Dr Leah Oyake also expressed frustrations with work force capacity when she told the PAC that there were only two trained officers at the Dandora dumpsite who could not be moved or replaced.
“I can say we have only four staff members with the technical capacity to fully comprehend and oversee environmental issues,” she said.
Currently the county runs on 10,915 staff out of whom 5,873 are male.
The work force gobbles up Sh10.4 billion in wages, which is 21 percent the county’s expenditure.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has suggested staff reduction and development of a human resources policy to help tackle ballooning wage bill.