Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Disturbed by the massive wage bill, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered an external audit on human resource and payroll in the public service after revelation that up to Sh1.8 billion is possibly paid annually to ghost workers.
Kenyatta has consequently directed the ministries of Devolution and National Treasury to contract a reputable external firm to carry out the audit and hand in a report to his office within three months.
This follows findings from eight partially-audited ministries that officers who are either on secondment, deceased, retired or have deserted their duties and who ought not to be remunerated still remain in the public service payroll.
“Initial reports suggest that considerable savings could be made on recurrent expenditures upon the correction of these erroneous payments on the system,” he said.
The President said interim results from the eight ministries reveal that an estimated Sh70 million could be deemed irregular payments to officers who have since left the service.
“If this were to be extrapolated to all 18 national government ministries, assuming the same trend holds, we are likely to save about Sh150 million monthly, and approximately Sh1.8 billion annually,” he said.
The final report of this review is expected to significantly contribute to the rationalisation programme of the public service currently being undertaken through the coordination of the Ministry of Devolution and Planning.
Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe
