Nairobi County will soon use biometric IDs to fight imposters

City Hall is set to issue its workers with biometric staff identification cards to weed out imposters.

Deputy County Secretary and Chief Officer in charge of Public Service Management Leboo Morintat said all the 15,000 county staff will be get the identity cards before the end of the year, following rising concerns about the number of imposters masquerading as bona fide county workers.

DAYS NUMBERED

“We are going to issue biometric cards to identify the imposters. We are ready and will start immediately because the cards are available. … they should know that their days are numbered,” said Mr Morintat.

The card will give you all the information about the holder,” he said.

He spoke during a meeting with all revenue collecting employees yesterday at City Hall, during which he stood in for Governor Mike Sonko.

Mr Morintat said the county has been losing revenue to imposters who print fake receipts, which they use to terrorise traders, posing as county revenue officers.

Cases of Nairobi residents being duped by imposters since there is no way of identifying genuine employees is a long-standing problem.

In the last financial year, Nairobi County government recorded reduced internal revenue, collecting only Sh10.1 billion after all the major revenue generating streams failed to meet their targets.

To bridge ensure that the county achieves its Sh15 billion target in the current financial year, the deputy county secretary said, that the county has adopted a policy where officers who collect revenue will not be allowed to stay at the same place for more than three months.

REWARD SCHEME

There will also be the introduction of a reward scheme for officers who meet their sectors revenue set targets, saying that finance is the engine of any country and one used to improve service delivery.

“There will be no staff operating at one station permanently. They will be reshuffled every three months. Those who meet revenue potential targets in all the sub-counties are determined and met and the county shall be rewarded by the county,” he said.

Last year, City Hall announced that it was to introduce biometric identity cards for its workers to eliminate ghost workers and impostors at the county.

The then County Secretary Robert Ayisi said the county was running trials with plans to enrol all 13,000 employees in a month’s time and that the project had proven viable, adding that City Hall was in the process of concluding the payment process because as they had already tendered for the cards.

Many people, including former county employees, have been arrested for impersonating workers, using fake documents and defrauding the county of millions of shillings.

In July 2016, five people were arrested with fake building plans and approvals, occupational and public health certificates and receipts.