Governor Simba Arati Working with KNEC to Verify Academic Certificates of County Staff
Kisii County Governor Simba Arati has revealed that his government sought the services of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to verify the county’s employees’ academic certificates.
According to the governor, he was not witch-hunting but was in the process of doing away with mediocrity from the public service in a bid to recruit the best manpower for efficient delivery of services for the sake of the county.
“If you know that you forged academic certificates to get employment here, you will be sacked to pave way for deserving persons,” said Arati.
Arati revealed that KNEC agreed to go through and verify the certificates of more than 800 Kisii County employees in the county for the sake of authenticity.
Besides, KNEC had also agreed to charge Kshs. 1,500 instead of the normal Kshs. 2,500 that they normally charge for the verification or replacement of lost certificates.
“The examination council allowed us to pay less money for their services because both of us are government servants,” said Arati.
In his entourage was his Deputy Governor Dr Robert Monda who said that the main reason for the move was to cut the wage bill which at that moment was taking 62 per cent of the County’s revenue.
“We found out that there are ghost workers in the county that harvested from where they never planted, at the expense of the taxpayer’s money,” said Monda.
Monda called on stakeholders to help his government to prevent and eradicate corruption.
He revealed Kisii County had authorized a supplementary budget for the exercise which was overseen by the Institute of Human Resource Management.
Arati’s decision was praised by Ibeno Ward Representative Steven Arika who appealed to other MCAs in the county to support the course.
Arika implored leaders to practice transparency and accountability from leaders in the area in order to harness the county’s resources.
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