Justina Wamae raises concerns of overemployment in govt offices
Former Roots Party running mate Justina Wamae has raised concerns over what she describes as systemic overemployment of support staff in government offices.
In a statement on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, Wamae warned that these workers may soon be unfairly labelled as “ghost workers”.
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Wamae questioned the logic behind staffing patterns in public offices, noting that many departments are overstaffed with non-technical personnel, while technical expertise remains in short supply.
“Most of our government offices face overemployment of supportive staff with inadequate/no technical staff needed. It is not a surprise that many do not even have a dedicated chair to sit on, while other offices arrange for them to work in shifts,” she said.
“With this backdrop, will they be treated as ghost workers?” she posed.
Ghost workers
This comes a day after Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku warned government employees who report to work late or fail to appear during official working hours, stating that such individuals will henceforth be treated as ghost workers.
Speaking during his inspection of the Central Regional Headquarters in Nyeri County on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, Ruku expressed his displeasure with the growing culture of absenteeism and laxity within the public sector.
“Everybody working in any government office who doesn’t report to work at the required time, and those who report to work and disappear, we shall be treating them as ghost workers moving forward,” he said.
“Most of you who are late, you are not different from my definition of a ghost worker. You receive a salary from the people of Kenya; you are reporting to work at the right time; you get to the office at 9:00 am and leave at 11:00 am, and therefore, you are just a ghost worker,” he said.
Ruku emphasised that the government would no longer tolerate such behaviour, announcing immediate enforcement actions targeting latecomers.
“Moving forward, we are going to start today with those who are late; we are going to get your name, personal number, and ID number, and we will issue a letter to show the course why you are not taking your job seriously,” he stated.
Additionally, he stated that disciplinary action would follow if investigations through other systems confirmed a pattern of negligence or misconduct.
“And if we check through other systems, then we will take further drastic measures,” he warned.
