Machakos County executive workers breathed a sigh of relief on Friday after Governor Wavinya Ndeti unveiled county public service policy that outlines guidelines for staff welfare and career progression.

Addressing hundreds of county staff drawn from various departments, Wavinya said she was concerned that dozens of county staff had gone for years without promotion while others had failed to earn promotions even after acquiring additional qualifications after further training and experience.

The governor said her administration developed the county human resource policy document seeking to address the numerous gaps in the existing HR formation in order to introduce sanity, fairness and procedural mechanisms of managing the welfare of the county workforce.

“I have heard the cries of many employees who have gone for ten years without a promotion while others are about to retire, having stagnated on the same job group throughout their years of service. Others have acquired additional academic and professional qualifications and have not moved an inch in the job group ladder,” said Wavinya.

She went on, “All 86 staff that will be retiring in 2025 be promoted with immediate effect while some 916 employees whose promotions had been delayed for seven years or more will be promoted effective July 1st 2025.”In order to motivate and reward hard-working staff, the governor announced the introduction of an annual staff award scheme and charged the performance advisory committee in conjunction with the department of public service to work out the modalities of the scheme.

Deputy Governor, Francis Mwangangi called for harmonization of the county staff, considering some of them were inherited from the defunct county council and others seconded from the national government.

“There is a need to undertake staff rationalization in order to create harmony and common purpose for county workers, considering they were drawn from various different backgrounds,” said Mwangangi

Principal Secretary in the State Department for Devolution, Terry Mbaika lauded governor Wavinya’s initiative, terming it a game changer and a point of reference for the rest of the county governments across Kenya.