To the layman’s eye, Adel Ottoman Walter looked like a hard worker.
He was Homa Bay’s County Deputy Director of Health-Preventive & Promotive Services, a full-time lecturer at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and a part-time lecturer at the Great Lakes University of Kisumu (GLUK) – all at the same time.
The KMTC job came first, as he was hired on May 15, 2013. Then on February 15, 2015 he took up the part-time teaching job at GLUK.
Finally, on March 30, 2016 he was appointed Homa Bay’s County Deputy Director of Health-Preventive & Promotive Services.
In July, 2019 Dr Walter was promoted to Deputy Head of Department at KMTC and posted to Port Reitz in Mombasa County.
This meant he was working in Mombasa, Kisumu and Homa Bay Counties at the same time, at least on paper.
But in reality, he was a ghost worker at Homa Bay County, as Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigations would later divulge that Dr Walter dedicated his loyalty at the time to KMTC.
Between June, 2016 and August, 2021 when the Homa Bay salary payments were stopped, Dr Walter received Sh10.9 million.
This means Homa Bay County paid him Sh174,471 each month, for doing nothing.
A March 13, 2026 Anti-Corruption Court decision ended Dr Walter’s proverbial 40 days, as it allowed the EACC to recover the illegally received Sh10.9 million.
Between June, 2016 and August, 2021, when the Homa Bay salary payments were stopped, Dr Walter received Sh10.9 million from the Homa Bay County Government.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
“In my view, it was illegal and unethical for the defendant to secure employment with the government while he was on permanent and pensionable terms at KMTC and fail to resign from either. It is also unlawful and unethical of a public servant to receive payment from two government institutions in a manner that is inconsistent with his efficient provision of services,” the judge said when issuing the recovery orders in EACC’s favour.
“It is also unlawful, unprofessional and unethical for a public servant to receive payment for services they have not rendered,” the court held.
Interestingly, Dr Walter was also dismissed from KMTC on May 5, 2022 for desertion of duties.
Dr Walter later tried his hand at politics when he sought to succeed Ong’ondo Were as Kasipul MP. He lost to the former MP’s son, Boyd Were, in the ODM nominations.
Dr Walter was one of 51 “ghosts” who drained Sh89.6 million from Homa Bay’s coffers between 2015 and 2019.
Lencer Akinyi Odida started working at Homa Bay County on October 1, 2014 as a medical social worker, earning Sh19,323 monthly.
Then, in August, 2015 Ms Odida started receiving two salaries in two bank accounts but for the same amount of work.
The second salary was Sh23,108. This means Ms Odida’s “ghost” was earning over Sh3,000 more than her.
By January, 2020 when the payments stopped, Ms Odida’s ‘ghost’ had received Sh1,247,864.
The Anti-Corruption Court on December 18, 2025 allowed the EACC to recover the funds Ms Odida received illegally and spent.
Just a month earlier, the court allowed EACC to recover Sh697,727 from Lilian Achieng Okumu, a nurse who Homa Bay County employed on the same day as Ms Odida.
Ms Okumu also received two salaries, the second being Sh28,322.
So far, EACC has recovered Sh34.8 million from multiple individuals who were either receiving two salaries, or were being paid despite never reporting to work.
After the EACC started investigating the 51 individuals, some confessed and offered to return what they had stolen.
EACC CEO Abdi Mohamud, through spokesperson Stephen Karuga, told the Nation that 44 of the individuals implicated entered into an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process with the anti-graft agency. That ADR process led to the recovery of Sh15 million.
Another Sh20.53 million has been recovered through the courts, where EACC filed recovery suits, the most recent being on September 18 when a judge allowed the anti-graft agency to recover Sh708,664 that Evelyn Adhiambo Ogweno received.
Ms Ogweno, a nurse employed on the same day as Ms Odida and Ms Okumu, had received Sh17,717 each month between February, 2015 and May, 2018.
All the cases the EACC has taken to court have a common thread – a payroll officer identified in court cases as Maurice Ochieng Wambo.
At the time the Homa Bay payroll fraud scheme started, government institutions were in the process of moving their employees from a manual payroll to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD).
Integrity Centre in Nairobi which houses the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission offices.
Photo credit: Pool I Nation Media Group
During the transition, Mr Wambo was in charge of the manual payroll.
Alfred Chuchu, a human resource officer, testified during the hearing of EACC’s case against Ms Okumu.
He told the court that after an employee was registered in the IPPD, Mr Wambo should have expunged that worker’s profile and details from the manual payroll.
Instead, the EACC’s investigations and court records show, Mr Wambo on-boarded workers who were already in the IPPD to the manual payroll.
When delivering judgment in the case against Dr Walter, judge Benjamin Musyoki said he was disappointed with county staff who aided the fraud, as he had handled several similar cases involving the same individuals.
“…I say this because this is the fifth matter involving loss of public funds in the said government in similar if not the same circumstances I am handling and I am aware that more are pending while others are concluded. One may not tell which department was the weak link but what is clear is that there were collusions between the employees and their supervisors and/or colleagues,” Justice Musyoki said.
“It is clear that there were well calculated plans to benefit identified employees in specific departments. One would wonder how the defendant’s absence would go unnoticed for six years. It is hoped that systems and structures have been put in place to thwart these kinds of shameless operations,” the judge added.
Dr Otiato was posted to Homa Bay County on June 2, 2017. He reported to work on June 8, 2017 but only worked for that month.
Dr Otiato was in August, 2017 employed by Avenue Hospital, a private health facility, as its Kisumu branch manager. He, however, continued drawing a salary from Homa Bay County until September, 2020.
In those three years, Dr Otiato received Sh5.8 million which the court on July 11, 2025 ordered be recovered by EACC.
“I also take judicial notice that the work of a medical doctor would demand physical presence of the doctor at the place of work. I also note that the defendant was actually employed by the Avenue Group and posted to Kisumu which is quite a distance from Homa Bay and in the circumstances, he could not have been working in two places at the same time,” the court held.
“This is enough evidence that the defendant was being paid for work not done which is in my opinion an abuse of office and actually outright theft of public resources,” the judge added.
On November 11, the Anti-Corruption Court at Milimani, Nairobi will hear a case involving another doctor, Kennedy Marienga Otieno.
The EACC filed a recovery suit against Dr Otieno arguing that he received Sh7.1 million from Homa Bay in salaries despite being employed full-time by Aga Khan Hospital Kisumu.
Dr Otieno was employed by Homa Bay in September, 2014. EACC says he was later hired by Aga Khan Hospital in March, 2016 hence was drawing salaries from both institutions.
He, however, did not show up at Homa Bay County Referral Hospital where he was posted before getting the Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu job.
