National government heads of department in Meru County have been urged to identify officers in need of professional counselling services within their offices. The remarks were made by County Commissioner Fred Ndunga during a county human resource advisory committee meeting in his boardroom.
Ndunga said heads of department had an obligation to ensure officers working under their supervision were in good mental health for them to deliver the desired quality of services to the public. He admitted that there were several officers struggling to cope with the effects of excessive consumption of alcohol among other substances with nobody caring to initiate any form of intervention.
The county commissioner said it should not be anybody’s assumption that officers caught into the trap of alcoholism, substance and drug abuse were responsible for what was happening in their life, adding that some were pushed into the habits by unattended financial and social challenges.
The administrator said the government had deployed a professional counsellor in the county, urging all heads of department to assist any affected officers in their offices to benefit from the free and readily available services.
He also reiterated the need for healthy officers to ensure any officer who had gone through rehabilitation or counselling sessions for one reason or the other was received back to the office environment without any form of discrimination or stigma.
“We all have a human and moral responsibility of assisting our colleagues to fit back into the official and social systems with ease, after undergoing the reforms programs and sessions,”
Ndunga cited the need to bring on board family members to directly participate in helping the affected officers get back to normal mental stability, adding that some people were under the influence of family related matters.
The county administrator further urged heads of department to spare time and ensure the counsellor was provided with all the necessary background information on the affected officers, as a way of fast-tracking good results to the benefit of the officer.
“Nobody can boast of any form of competence if they are unable to deliver on the official assignments on the stipulated timelines, hence the need for the necessary professional intervention which the government was offering for free,”