The Auditor General has uncovered loopholes within the payroll system of the Nairobi County government.
According to the report on the County Government’s Executive for the fiscal year 2021/2022, it has been revealed that salaries have been disbursed to employees who are not documented in any official records or payroll.
As per the report, the county officially listed a total of 4,897 employees. However, this number contradicted the entries in the payroll register, which indicated 5,884 employees. This inconsistency resulted in a difference of 987 employees between the two datasets.
Management attributed the disparity to the fact that the figure in their records included county-employed staff, while the extra personnel were employees seconded by the national government.
Nonetheless, the Auditor General pointed out that despite this explanation, the County failed to furnish her office with a roster of the supplementary staff sent to the County by the National Government, as asserted, during the audit.
“In the absence of the list of additional staff, it was not possible to confirm that the nine hundred and eighty-seven (987) staff members were part of the approved staff establishment for the County,” said the Auditor General.
The Auditor General did not disclose the specific sum of money that the county government has disbursed to ghost employees.
The Auditor General’s report further indicates that the staff roster for June 2022 exposed instances where certain employees were promoted to senior roles within the County. However, their educational or professional qualifications listed in the Human Resource data records did not align with the prerequisites for the corresponding positions.
“This may have resulted either from lack of training for the staff members or failure to update their personal files data in the payroll. The Management did not provide evidence to confirm the academic, professional, and experience required for the 2,178.”
