GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 162

the following staff for CIHEB to assist in the management of the HIV pandemic. Cadre No. of Appointees Registered Clinical Officer 8 Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse Adherence Counsellors 6 Infection Prevention Officers 1 Remote Log In Clerk 1 Medical Laboratory Technologist III 3 HTS Counsellors 16 VMMC Mobilizers 1 VMMC Surgeon 3 VMMC Counsellors 2 Health Records and Information Officers 11 Pharmaceutical Technologist III 3 TOTAL 58 The recruited staff receive their remuneration from CDC-USAID. All the contracts run up to 30th September when the donor FY year ends and another FY begins 1st October. 2.2.1.2 Contract Renewal The Board was requested by the Department of Public Health and sanitation to renew the contracts of the existing CIHEB staff , effective 1st October 2024 and upon ensuring that the following parameters were met, the same were renewed. (a) Staff Performance Appraisal Reports with required performance rating (b) Relevant academic documents (c) Relevant Registration and valid Licenses (d) Disciplinary cases (e) Diversity of the County and (f) Gender parity 2.2.1.3 Budget Cuts It was formally brought to the attention of the Board that CIHEB had budget cuts for Migori meaning the human capital had to be downsized. The Board, after verifying the relevant information as well as reviewing the employees’ performance appraisals, the contracts were renewed as shown on the table below. Cadre Renewals Non-Renewals Adherence Counsellors 34 41 Adherence Counsellors Lead 7 - Registered Clinical Officers 52 13 Registered Clinical Officers VMMC 2 - Health Records and Information Officers 36 21 HIV Testing and Counselling Officers 119 - HIV Testing and Counselling VMMC 2 - HIV Testing and Counselling Lead 7 - Infection Prevention Officer 2 - Remote Log In Clerks 3 - Medical Laboratory Technologist 17 1 VMMC Mobilizers 2 - Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse 15 4 Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse VMMC 2 - Pharmaceutical Technologist 14 1 Administrative Officers 5 - Data Clerks - 1 HTS Counsellors - 9 TOTAL 319 91 2.2.2 TUKICHEKI Program 2.2.2.1 Recruitment The Board received a request to recruit three (3) program officers to Tukicheki. It thus began the recruitment process by placing an advertisement up to conducting interviews. As at the time of writing this report, the Board is at the tail end of the recruitment process and only left with issuing appointments. The request is as shown in the table below. Cadre Posts Program Officer – HTS, PrEP 1 Program Officer – Treatment and HIV/TB 1 Program Officer – PMTCT and SGBV/HIV 1 TOTAL 3 2.2.2.2 Inter Partner Staff Transition The Board received a request to transition officers from ENTRENCH – CIHEB Kenya to TUKICHEKI Program and duly did so as per the table below. Cadre Count Adherence Counsellors 1 Health Records and Information Officers 2 HTS Counsellors 2 Medical Laboratory Technologist 1 Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse 1 Pharmaceutical Technologist 1 TOTAL 8 2.3 Promotion of Officers in Migori County Public Service Promotion of officers is a human resources function that aims to elevate deserving officers to higher positions in the grading structure. These promotions serve to address staffing gaps, boost morale and enhance both retention and service delivery. The Board noted that most County Departments did not allocate funds for promotion in their respective budgets, while others allocated inadequate funds for the same and thus disabling the Board from doing the said promotions. The budgetary allocation for promotions in the county departments is as shown in the table below. Department Amount Allocated ICT, e-GOVERNANCE and Administration 2,000,000 Special Programmes 500,000 County Public Service Board 0 Monitoring and Evaluation 0 Public Service Management and Devolution 0 10th January, 2025 THE KENYA GAZETTE Agriculture 0 Veterinary Services 500,000 Fisheries and Blue Economy 0 Education, Gender Inclusivity 0 Medical and Public Health 2,000,000 Environment 2,500,000 Finance Accounting Services 0 Finance and Economic Planning 0 Lands and Physical Planning 0 Roads and Transport 2,500,000 Trade and Tourism 1,400,000 Water and Energy 0 Livestock Production 0 Public Health 0 Public Health (CHP) 0 Awendo Municipality 0 Migori Minicipality 0 Rongo Municipality 0 Kehancha Municipality 0 County Secretary 0 TOTAL 11,400,000 2.4 Transfer of Services During the period under review, the Board received a total of eleven (11) transfer requests from either the County Government of Migori to other public service entities or vice versa. Out of the total requests received, five were approved as summarized in Table 2. Category No. of Transfers Received No. of Transfers Approved Transfer requests from Migori County to other public service entities 5 3 Transfer requests from other public service entities to Migori County 6 2 TOTAL 11 5 3. EXERCISING OF DISCIPLINARY CONTROL Disciplinary control is an integral part of the human resource management function in the county public service. It’s intended to contribute to performance improvement and productivity, maintenance of high standards of integrity and upholding the dignity of the office to which public servants are appointed. Disciplinary control in the county public service is a function provided under section 59 (1) (b) of the County Governments Act, 2012. In the period under review, the Board received four (4) cases from CHRMAC and handled them as summarized in Table 3. Name Source Nature of the Cases Current Status Charles Chacha Mwikwabe CHRMAC Gross Misconduct Dismissed Fred Ojwang Kikuno CHRMAC Absenteeism Dismissed Tabitha Okech (Dr.) CHRMAC Proceeding to study in a foreign country without permission Dismissed Linus Odera Aluoch CHRMAC Absenteeism Dismissed Additionally eighty six (86) staff were dismissed on account of forgery of academic certificates. 4. PREPARATION OF REGULAR REPORTS TO THE COUNTY ASSEMBLY ON THE EXECUTION OF FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD This is one of the functions of the Board according to section 591 (d) of the County Government Act, 2012. In the period under review, the Board did not submit any report to the County Assembly 5. PROMOTE IN THE COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE THE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLES 10 AND 232 During the review period, the Board did not conduct any sensitization on the Declaration of Income, Assets and Liabilities for the 2023 cycle. 6. EVALUATE AND REPORT TO THE COUNTY ASSEMBLY ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLES 10 AND 232 ARE COMPLIED WITH IN THE COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE The Board evaluated 19 County departments on the status of compliance with the Values and Principles. Overall, the response rate was 89.5%. The evaluation focused on the extent to which county departments have mainstreamed the values and principles of governance and the values and principles of the public service that were grouped in 10 thematic areas namely: good governance, transparency and accountability; professionalism and ethics in the public service; provisioning for diversity; fair competition and merit in appointments and promotion; efficiency and effectiveness; sustainable development; responsive, prompt, impartial and equitable service; participation in policy making and implementation; upholding of human rights in the public service; and devolution and sharing of power. 7. FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF COHERENT, INTEGRATED HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AND BUDGETING FOR PERSONNEL EMOLUMENTS IN MIGORI COUNTY In order to perform this function as mandated under section 59 (1) (g) of the County Governments Act, 2012, the Board has planned to conduct public participation in liaison with relevant departments and County Assembly committees on the following documents/policies: - (a) Draft Internship, Recruitment, Training and Sexual Harassment policies which are awaiting public participation. (b) Review of the Human Resource Policy and Procedures Manual. (c) Draft Conflict of Interest Handbook. 8. ADVISE MIGORI COUNTY GOVERNMENT ON HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT In order to perform this function, the Board made the following advisories: (a) Advisory opinion on staffing of Migori county revenue authority (b) Advisory on award of extraneous allowance (c) Response on request for exemption from tax payment and extension of retirement age to 65 years (d) Advisory opinion on operationalization of extraneous allowance in the county public service (e) Advisory on transitioning/absorption of contracted CIHEB staff into permanent and pensionable terms of service (f) Advisory opinion on confirmation in appointment of new staff (g) Advisory opinion on remuneration for the director/secretary of Migori County Revenue Board from the Salaries and remuneration Commission 9. ADVISE MIGORI COUNTY GOVERNMENT ON IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING OF THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN MIGORI COUNTY The Board issued an advisory opinion to the County Secretary on the Implementation and monitoring of the national performance management system in the county public service. 10. RECOMMENDATIONS TO SRC ON REMUNERATION, PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES FOR MIGORI COUNTY EMPLOYEES The Board wrote to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) on: (a) Non-definition of the designation of Assistant ECDE Teacher III JG CPSB 13 or (JG F) in the IPPD. (b) The financial implication of the proposed CBA between Nurses and the County Government. 11. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE BOARD IN THE COURSE OF EXECUTING ITS MANDATE THE KENYA GAZETTE 10th January, 2025 (a) Budgetary Constraints: The Board could not implement a number of activities due to budgetary constraints. Further, the mandate and functions of the Board require a significant increase in budget support way above the current allocations. (b) Encroachment of the Board’s Mandate: Notwithstanding the mandate of the Board as enshrined in Section 59 of the County Governments Acts, 2012, some Departments are encroaching on the mandate of the Board. Consequently, budgets are allocated to other Departments resulting in the Board’s inability to perform some of its mandates and functions. (c) Physical Resource Challenges: Insufficient tools of service like computers, ICT equipment, Wi-Fi and utility vehicles have hindered the Board’s effectiveness in delivering on its mandates. (d) Legal Challenges: The Board continues to face a number of legal hurdles in the process of execution of its duties, through institution of suits against it. EVALUATION ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNANCE (a) Good Governance, Transparency and Accountability: The county does not have an approved staff establishment. On succession management, most of the staff are relatively young which indicates a need for more capacity building and mentorship. All departments complied with e-procurement since it is a statutory requirement especially for capital projects. On matters of accountability, there was an average score of good as per the rankings in the evaluation. The county is yet to fully implement and cascade the performance management framework to all the staff. It was also noted that none of the departments had conducted a corruption perception survey since the inception of the county. (b) Professionalism and ethics in the Public Service: This principle and value was assessed on the basis of four indicators namely – availability of key policy documents on ethics at the disposal of the accounting officers, availability of training budgets, number of staff trained, membership to professional bodies and declaration of income, assets and liabilities. All these indicators recorded average level of compliance. (c) Provisioning for diversity: This principle was assessed by indicators that exclusively focused on the reported number of employees in the departments that participated in the survey. The number of employees who are of Luo ethnic background stands at 66% which represents a majority. This can be attributed to the fact that the Luo is the dominant tribe in the county and that most of the staff were inherited at the inception of devolution. Notwithstanding, the county has included minority communities such as the Maasai, Kenyan Asian, Kenyan Arab, and Orma in the service. On gender representation, 51% staff in the county public service are women based on reasons already given in chapter five. The percentage of disabled staff in the county is still much lower than the constitutional threshold. (d) Fair competition and merit in appointments and promotions: This principle is assessed on the basis of three indicators, namely, fair competition and merit, advertisement of job vacancies, representation in appointments. In the period under review, the Board did not carry out any promotions. On appointment, the Board conducted all recruitment exercises based on the provided laws and met the required threshold. (e) Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economic Use of Resources: This principle was assessed based on the alignment of the budget with planning. All departmental budgets were in line with the county integrated development plan for 2023-2027. Regarding the indicator of budget absorption, departments performed well on the recurrent side but poorly on the development side. Another indicator in this area was allocative budget efficiency and utilization. A majority of the departments fell short of meeting the recommended ratios for both recurrent-to-development expenditure and personnel emoluments-to-operations-and-maintenance. (f) Sustainable Development: This principle was evaluated based on the dimension of pending bills as a percentage of the allocated budget. It was observed that fifteen (15) departments representing 79% had pending bills, which hindered the planning process for subsequent years. (g) Responsive, Prompt, Impartial and Equitable Service: This principle was evaluated using five indicators: automation of services, presence of service charters, customer care desks, suggestion boxes, and complaint registers. In terms of automation of services, there was an overall compliance rate of 89%, signifying that most departments are utilizing technology to provide efficient and timely services to residents. Concerning the existence of service charters, customer care desks, suggestion boxes and complaint registers, departments performed reasonably well. In conclusion, implementing the last set of indicators in this thematic area requires minimal to zero budget. Therefore, departments lacking these features should swiftly move to implement them. (h) Public Participation in Policy Making and Implementation: From the findings, 55% of the departments acknowledged the presence of a Public Participation Policy document. The findings further indicate that 80% of the departments, led by the Department of Trade, Tourism, Industrialization, and Co- operatives, conducted public participation forums. In conclusion, the absence of public participation policies almost half of the departments highlights an opportunity for improvement. Without such policies, departments might overlook essential inputs from stakeholders, limiting the inclusivity and transparency of their decision-making processes. (i) Upholding Human Rights in the County Public Service: In this thematic area, the evaluation concluded that compliance with the principle was reasonably good. However, future evaluations should consider sourcing data from oversight bodies for a more comprehensive assessment. (j) Devolution and Sharing of Power: The evaluation revealed that most departments (79%) had participated in joint ventures with partners of common interests. On the percentage of staff deployed to the sub counties, finding revealed that 76% of the staff in Migori County public service are in the sub-counties which captures the spirit of devolution. The Department of Education, Youth, Sports, Gender Inclusivity, Culture and Social Services reported to have completed 131 projects in the period under review which is the leading number, followed by the Department of Water and Energy which completed 75 projects in the same period. In conclusion, there is a need for a uniform policy guideline on the proportion of staff that should be retained at the county headquarters. On community projects, there is a need to carry out a thorough monitoring and evaluation to ascertain the concentration of projects in sub counties and wards. PROPOSED INTERVENTIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC SERVICE In order to ensure that the values and principles evaluated in this report are implemented effectively, the Board commits to undertake the following: (a) Create avenues for the general public to engage the board and give feedback on the implementation of the values and principles. (b) Develop a reward and sanctions policy geared towards rewarding officers who promote the values and sanctioning those that contravene the same. (c) Liaise with stakeholders like the County Assembly to seek meaningful partnerships towards the entrenchment of the values in the public service. (d) Organize quarterly sensitization meetings with Chief Officers and other senior county staff on implementation of values in the public service. (e) Organize training for board members and staff by the public service commission in order to build the capacity of the board to perform their role with regard to the implementation of values and principles. 10th January, 2025 THE KENYA GAZETTE (f) Prepare an annual work plan outlining all activities to be carried out towards the implementation of the values and budgeting for the same. (g) Prepare and implement a county employment equity plan for purposes of eliminating ethnic imbalance (h) Publish and distribute handbooks on values and principles to all staff to increase awareness. CS ANDREW O. OCHOLA, Secretary/CEO, MR/6520549 Migori County Public Service Board.