The Auditor General indicates that the National Treasury is harboring hundreds of excess staff, with the latest audit report showing that 687 staff members have been employed for positions created without authorization or seconded to posts exceeding the approved headcount.
“Review of the National Treasury staff establishment revealed that 39 positions with no authorised establishment had 92 members of staff in post,” Nancy Gathungu says in her report.
This encompasses high-profile economists, accountants, and clerical staff in various departments, with some offices surpassing the approved staff headcount by more than 700 percent.
Highlighted departments include intergovernmental fiscal relations and financial and sectoral affairs, which have 17 senior economists hired without authorization.
“Similarly, 45 positions with an authorised establishment of 466 members of staff had 1,061 staff members in-post exceeding the approved establishment by 595 staff members,” the audit.
Auditor General Gathungu reported that as of June 2022, the Treasury listed 154 chief clerical officers against an authorised establishment of 22, representing an excess of 132.
Similarly, 133 staff are listed as senior clerical officers, which is more than four times the authorised number of 30.
The audit comes in the wake of revelations by the Public Service Commission (PSC) that 15 State organisations have excess members of staff.
RELATED – PSC Uncovers More Than 19,000 Ghost Workers Within Government Payroll
“Five of these 15 organisations had excess staff members of over 50 per cent. These were Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (115 per cent), National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (72 per cent), State Department for Devolution (61 per cent), State Department for Higher Education and Research (69 per cent) and State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services (59 per cent),” said PSC in its report.
The PSC additionally disclosed that six other organizations have high levels of ghost workers, with more than 100 staff members compared to the number documented in the staff register.
“Two of the organisations (State House and New Kenya Cooperative Creameries) had a disparity of 483 and 492 respectively.”
The PSC established that out of a total of 289 public organizations and parastatals, only 21 had formulated a comprehensive human resource management plan that should guide the recruitment of new staff and training.
