City Hall to recruit 600 askaris despite hiring freeze
The Nairobi County executive has said it will proceed with the recruitment of city askaris despite a freeze slapped on it by Members of the County Assembly (MCAs)
The County Assembly had last month frozen employment of new staff, promotions or salary review. MCAs said the decision was meant to tame the high wage bill at City Hall.
It came at a time City Hall was about to hire 600 staff for its inspectorate team to upgrade capacity as well as replace those set to retire at the end of the year.
County Secretary Dr Robert Ayisi on Friday said MCAs have no mandate to dictate how the executive operates. They should instead restrict themselves to their oversight role.
“It is the work of the assembly to oversight not to give orders. The executive knows how much manpower it needs and that is for us to decide,”said Dr Ayisi.
He said City Hall is expecting expecting over 200 askaris to retire by the end of this year.
He said the hiring process will involve the National Police Service, who will play a major role in both the recruitment and training curriculum for the inspectorate team.
Dr Ayisi argued that despite the high wage bill, most of their staff lack basic skills in their jobs hence the need to hire new once.
“You know how the former City Council worked, they brought people from their families who where unqualified. We now need to hire professionals,”said Dr Ayisi.
The County Secretary also said they will also defy the County Assembly on the privatization of clamping and towing services of vehicles that do not pay parking fees.
Dr Ayisi said that this would reduce the increased corruption in the sector.
