This archive report was first published on 8 August 2019.
August 8, 2019, marked another day of chaos at Vihiga county's payroll and human resource offices as workers continued to decry the illegal omission and deduction of their salaries by corrupt officers.
Several county staff have raised complaints over their missing salaries despite receiving their payslips, while others have decried over illegal deduction of their allowances without proper explanations.
At the center of the storm are Vihiga county health workers, led by their Kenya Union of Nurses Vihiga chapter leaders, who have threatened to strike across the county to paralyze health services if the mess is not rectified.
According to the nurses, their allowances had been deducted from their June salaries without being given good reasons, with some accusing the county's human resource director, Millicent Madara, of trying to sabotage the efforts by Governor Wilber Ottichilo to improve the health sector in the county.
Madara, who has been at the center of the controversy, has been summoned to appear before the assembly public service committee, along with acting county secretary Philip Gavuna and county minister public service board, to explain the mess.
However, only county legal officer Geofrey Sore appeared before the committee, admitting that the executive was breaking laws contrary to the penal codes and that Gavuna was illegally acting as county secretary.
The nurses have threatened to kick Madara out of office if she fails to rectify the mess on their payslips, with some accusing her of trying to sabotage the efforts by Governor Ottichilo to improve the health sector in the county.
