A Homa Bay County nurse and a payroll official have been ordered to repay Sh708,664 that the High Court found had been paid to the nurse in irregular additional salary over more than three years.
The money was paid to Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno between February 2015 and May 2018, according to a judgment delivered by the High Court’s Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Division in Nairobi on September 18, 2026.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) had sued Ms Ogweno and three county officials, seeking recovery of the money on behalf of Homa Bay County Government.
The commission alleged that Ms Ogweno received additional monthly salaries and that the payments were facilitated by payroll officials.
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
However, Justice BM Musyoki found that while EACC had established that Ms Ogweno received money she was not entitled to, it failed to prove that two of the three county officials it sued had directed, approved or facilitated the irregular payments.
The judge therefore ordered Ms Ogweno and Maurice Ochieng Wambo to jointly and severally pay the Sh708,664, with interest at court rates from the date the case was filed until payment in full.
EACC’s claim against co- accused Solomon Owuor Ochogo and Joseph Omondi Otieno was dismissed, with the commission ordered to meet their costs.
The case arose from payments made to Ms Ogweno after she had been employed as a nurse by Homa Bay County.
She had initially been appointed by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation as a registered community health nurse in June 2013 before being appointed by Homa Bay County as a nurse with effect from January 1, 2014.
Her entry basic salary was Sh19,323, rising to a maximum of Sh24,662, subject to applicable increments.
According to the evidence presented in court, she received additional payments between February 2015 and May 2018. The disputed payments were traced through her Kenya Commercial Bank account.
EACC investigator Augustine Mukwekwe told the court that Ms Ogweno had acknowledged receiving excess money and had promised to repay it at Sh10,000 a month. The promise, however, was not honoured.
KCB Homa Bay branch manager Dorothy Achieng Omollo confirmed that the bank account used in the case belonged to Ms Ogweno and authenticated the account statement showing the payments.
The court heard that Homa Bay County had two payroll systems operating at the same time — a manual system and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD).
The existence of the two systems became central to the dispute over who was responsible for the additional payments.
Mr Ochogo, who had worked in the county payroll section, denied responsibility for the payments. He told the court that he was mainly involved in the IPPD system and did not have access to the manual payroll system through which some of the disputed payments were allegedly enabled.
He said he became involved in the payroll after being promoted to accountant I and that, in 2017, Mr Otieno handed over the payroll system to him.
Mr Ochogo also said he discovered that Ms Ogweno was receiving double salary payments and instructed Mr Wambo to stop them in June 2018.
The judge noted that the evidence showed the payments stopped when Mr Ochogo was acting as payroll manager.
However, Justice Musyoki said this did not by itself prove that Mr Ochogo had authorised or facilitated the earlier payments.
EACC's own witness also acknowledged during cross-examination that there was no evidence showing that any of the disputed money had been transferred to Mr Ochogo.
The commission had also not produced the manual payroll records or schedules showing that Mr Ochogo had authorised the payments.
Mr Otieno, who served as payroll manager from June 2015 to December 2017, similarly denied responsibility.
He told the court that the disputed payments had started in February 2015, before he took over as payroll manager, where he was responsible for preparing the digital payroll but had no access rights to the manual payroll system.
He also told the court that he had raised concerns about the two payroll systems in a letter dated July 19, 2015 to the interim county director of human resources.
Justice Musyoki found that EACC had not produced evidence linking Mr Otieno to the specific payment instructions that resulted in the additional salary payments.
The judge also noted that the county's human resources director had overall responsibility for payroll, but the official was neither joined to the case nor called as a witness.
The court took a different view of Mr Wambo, who had been involved in the manual payroll system and did not file a defence to the claim.
Justice Musyoki found that the evidence before the court established his involvement in the manual payroll and that the irregular payments were enabled through that system.
The judge therefore held him liable together with Ms Ogweno for the Sh708,664.
The court nevertheless rejected EACC's demand for an additional Sh3 million in general and exemplary damages against the payroll officials.
Justice Musyoki said restitution of the money was sufficient and that awarding additional damages would amount to double compensation.
The court declared the additional salary payments of Sh708,664 made to Ms Ogweno between February 2015 and May 2018 irregular and ordered their restitution.
