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Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
Eight Rift Valley counties may have collectively lost at least Sh1 billion to ghost workers over the past three years, since 2023.
The affected counties include Kajiado, Nandi, Samburu, Baringo, Nakuru, Bomet, Uasin Gishu, and Elgeyo Marakwet.
According to audits by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, between the 2022/2023 and 2024/2025 financial years, this amount was paid as salaries and allowances to employees who could not be traced.
Much of the money was disbursed through manual payroll systems instead of the recommended Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD), which is prone to abuse and manipulation.
Other payroll irregularities identified included payments to staff who had already reached the retirement age of 60 and illegal payments through shared bank accounts.
For instance, a special audit conducted between December 2024 and February 2025, covering a sample of 2,354 workers across the 47 counties, revealed that Kajiado County was the most affected.
Auditors requested 189 employees for physical verification, but 94 failed to appear. These 94 employees had collectively received Sh82.7 million in salaries since 2023.
“The special audit requested 189 employees from the county to turn up for physical verification, but 94 did not appear, despite multiple attempts to reach them,” revealed Auditor General Gathungu.
Samburu County had 33.7percent of sampled employees missing, while Nandi had 38.2percent.
Among verified workers, Baringo County employees received the highest average monthly salaries of Sh130,143, totaling Sh23.4 million for five workers. In Nandi, 34 unverified employees earned an average monthly salary of Sh109,515.
The audit covering the financial year ending June 30, 2024, further revealed widespread payroll fraud across several counties.
Issues included shared bank accounts, irregular hiring and continued use of manual payroll systems that allow manipulation.
“In Bomet County, 12 officers received salaries amounting to Sh8.64 million in shared bank accounts, violating public service payroll regulations,” the audit report noted. Counties also illegally retained retirees on their payrolls and in Nakuru, for example, 77 retired officers continued receiving salaries totaling Sh36.16 million.
Many counties have abandoned the mandatory IPPD system, opting for manual payroll. In the 2023/2024 financial year, Samburu paid Sh75.8 million manually, Nandi Sh66 million, Bomet Sh52.9 million and Elgeyo Marakwet Sh66.8 million.
By 2024/2025, Rift Valley counties processed at least Sh500 million through manual payrolls. Nakuru paid Sh92.75 million and Elgeyo Marakwet Sh97.63 million manually.
“It is government policy that salaries should be paid through the IPPD system. The manual payroll is prone to abuse and may lead to loss of public funds,” stated Ms Gathungu in the report.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
The audit also revealed that Nandi County irregularly paid Sh15.7 million to casual workers whose work sites, designations, and attendance records were undocumented.
An additional Sh6.5 million went to 139 employees lacking appointment letters, academic qualifications and other critical records.
Furthermore, 135 employees were paid through a manual Excel payroll without file numbers, designations, or job groups. Eleven officers also received double allowances totaling Sh36.5 million across IPPD and manual payrolls. The county further retained 27 retirees, paying them Sh11.1 million.
In the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 financial years, Narok, Nakuru, Uasin Gishu and Bomet counties paid over Sh100 million in salaries to employees who had reached retirement age. Bomet County alone may have lost Sh48 million in illegal salaries and allowances.
These findings emerged last week when the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) grilled Governor Prof Hillary Barchok over the irregularities. Governor Barchok appeared to respond to audit queries raised by Auditor General Gathungu for the 2024/2025 financial year.
The audit highlighted irregular payments of salaries, personal allowances, special house allowances, extraneous allowances, non-practicing allowances, uniform allowances and special salaries.
Other issues included overpayment of basic salaries, flawed recruitment, irregular engagement of casual workers, failure to comply with laws on employing persons with disabilities, irregular promotions and retention of staff beyond retirement age.
The report also revealed non-compliance with the one-third basic salary rule and disregard for legal requirements on ethnic staff composition.
Up to Sh48 million in salaries and allowances for 1,454 officers had not been approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Governor Barchok, however, said the situation had improved since he assumed office in 2018. He described payroll clean-ups as an ongoing process, noting that three major interventions had been undertaken, including hiring human resource consultants.
“We are not at 100 percent, but we have made progress,” he said, adding that some allowances had been scrapped and recovery measures initiated for irregular payments.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has also revealed several methods used by county governments to perpetrate payroll fraud, resulting in inflated and unsustainable wage bills.
“Ghost workers appear on paper but do not contribute to county operations. They receive salaries, keeping a portion and handing the rest to superiors,” said EACC boss Abdi Mohamud.
Other methods include over-employment driven by nepotism, hiring employees with forged academic certificates, continuing to pay retirees, multiple employment and assigning employees to higher grades to inflate salaries.
According to the EACC, these practices are fueled by the impunity of county officials.
