Counties experience a rapid loss of personnel to the national government because of unattractive packages offered by their public service boards.

CPSBs are mandated to manage human resources at the county levels but cannot effectively do so because of frequent cash crises. They are mostly controlled by county executives.

CPSB National Consultative Forum chairperson Catherine Omweno on Friday said they ought to be financially independent to effectively operate. She spoke at the close of the forum's three-day meeting in Mombasa.

One of the key principles of devolution is to take services closest to the mwananchi. This can only be done through a strong skilled workforce, which also requires to be motivated, Omweno said.

She said the CPSBs are, for instance, forced by the executives to hire workers, failing which they are starved of cash.This means the boards end up hiring quacks and unqualified persons at the expense of professionalism.

And yet we want devolution to work! It is difficult, Omweno said.

Without cash, they cannot offer competitive packages to retain employees whose jobs can also be found at the national level.

Where terms and conditions of employment are not favourable in the counties, well end up having, for positions that are both at the county and the national level, a flight of staff from the counties to the national government, Omweno said.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, who closed the forum, said the 47 boards should be autonomous to effectively discharge their mandate.

For the counties to be independent, not just by name but also by deed, I would emphasise the need for them to have financial independence, Muturi said.

He said the boards currently operate at the whims of the county executives.Muturi said the law should be amended to provide for the financial independence of the boards.

As it is, they are at the mercy of the governors. And sometimes the governors may have different priorities from the boards.

Muturi said the boards are professional bodies and may have issues they want to articulate and implement, but the issues may be at variance with what the governors want.

That creates a lot of confusion and makes the boards look like they are not doing their work.

Already, a bill at the Senate seeks to amend the County Government Act to provide for that independence.

The CPSBs mirror the Public Service Commission at the national level. PSC is an independent commission and gets its funds directly from the Consolidated Fund, thus the Executive cannot interfere in the operation of the commission.

Muturi said CPSBs should operate the same way to protect devolution. He called on the MPs to fast-track the bill to achieve CPSB independence.

Omweno also recommended that similar county and national government positions be graded and remunerated the same in the spirit of norms and standards.

Currently, positions at the county level are graded at a much lower cadre than similar positions at the national level, making counties unattractive.

The CPSB Forum is already engaging the Salaries and Remuneration Commission to have this addressed.

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Counties' high staff turnover blamed on uncompetitive packages - The Star, Kenya