At least 500 employees in Early Childhood Development Education department will not have their contracts renewed in May due to ballooning wage bill, Governor John Nyagarama has confirmed.
This, he said, would allow the county manage the wage bill which has shoot to the ceiling making it difficult for the county to budget for development. Mr Nyagarama is serving his second term under the ODM ticket.
According to the ODM Nyamira County patron, the county had employed a total of 1340 ECDE teacher along with those working on contract despite the small population being served.
“We realised there are more ECDE teachers than we need. In some schools, some of these teachers teach even in other classes. They are in excess,” said Mr Nyagarama.
The county boss asked those affected to bear with him, adding that the decision was painful but necessary for the county due to wage bill issues.
“This is an administrative step. While this is a painful decision to take given that I value their services so much, the move we are taking is inevitable. Our county has the largest number of these teachers,” the governor added.
The austerity measure comes amid outcry from locals who accuse the authorities of dishing employment letters without due process. Already the governor has instituted payroll clean up exercise.
Senior payroll officers were sent on a compulsory three months leave with the governor determined to have the payroll audited. Among those affected was Lewis Oburu, the payroll manager.