Ward reps urge City Hall to sack former NMS staff
Nairobi City County inspectorate officers control traffic at the junction of Kimathi Street and Kenyatta Avenue in December 2020.
The fate of at least 715 inspectorate staff hired by the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) now hangs in the balance, with MCAs rejecting any plans by City Hall to retain the constables.
The House approved a committee report saying the county government has no obligation to absorb the officers.
The move now puts in doubt a February directive by Governor Johnson Sakaja calling former NMS staff whose contracts have expired to report to City Hall and apply for permanent county posts.
In February, Governor Sakaja had vowed that no one will be unfairly dismissed under his watch and assured the ex-NMS staff that they would be accommodated.
This was after Security and Compliance Chief Officer Tony Kimani had intimated that the county government was going to sack them following the expiry of their contract.
A report by the Labour and Social Welfare Committee appears to have put paid to any hopes for the enforcement officers retaining their jobs as the County Public Service Board — the body mandated to recruit officers of the county executive — was not involved in the recruitment.
At the time of the transfer of functions to NMS, 1,172 officers had been identified for secondment to the agency but this was later reduced to 1,099 to retain enforcement and security functions at the county government.
To address the gap, NMS through PSC recruited 285 enforcement officers and 676 constables on contract. They were deployed to the then newly created directorate of Compliance and Service Delivery.
In its recommendations, the committee said the county government is under no obligation to absorb the enforcement officers or any other workers recruited by NMS unless the user departments have made a request to the County Public Service Board.
The report went on to direct that cadets recruited by the PSC when the county government does not have such cadres should be re-designated by the national government.
“The recommendations of this committee be implemented with immediate effect,” reads in part the report by the committee that is led by Dandora Area I MCA Allan Gathuku.
In its findings, the committee revealed that the County Public Service Board was not aware of the budgetary allocation in the county to cater for salaries of the enforcement officers in the financial year ending June 2023.
Further, the County Public Service Board through acting Secretary Nyamwaya Nyagara, raised concern with the PSC in regard to the continuous recruitment without approved county structure and establishment.
In a January 27, 2022, letter, the board said that, due to the huge wage bill, City Hall would not be able to absorb staff recruited by NMS and whose contracts have ended.
The contract for 38 out of 285 enforcement officers was to end on November 30, 2022, same as that of 676 constables, while 246 are to be out of contract in October 2024.
On October 13 last year, the County Public Service Board wrote another letter to the acting County Secretary requesting an explanation on the transition of human resources function to the Nairobi City County Government.
The board wanted to be provided with justification, structure and establishment that initiated the recruitment of the officers by NMS through PSC as well as justification of recruitment of the officers on contract beyond the terms of the deed of transfer, among other requests.
But in his response letter, acting County Secretary Jairus Musumba recommended for the officers to be absorbed by the county government under permanent and pensionable as their functions are crucial and essential.
