Ghost workers gobble up Narok County’s Sh300m

The Narok County government has been losing nearly Sh300 million each year in salaries to ghost workers, an audit has revealed.

A report by Deloitte and Touche, released by Governor Samuel Tunai Wednesday, says out of the 2,363 employees who presented themselves for a head count, only 2,083 had documents that matched human resource records and payroll information.

Addressing journalists at the county headquarters in Narok town, the governor said out of the 190 employees who did not present themselves, eight were on approved leave.

Of the remaining 182 individuals, 166 have been illegally drawing salaries from the county.

“These individuals make the county lose Sh15,466,230 monthly, amounting to Sh185,594,760 annually,” said Mr Tunai, who warned that legal action would be taken against the culprits with a view to recovering the money.

According to the document, names of three employees were duplicated in the human resources register, accounting for six entries. It says names of 83 individuals could neither be found in the register nor on the payroll.

Mr Tunai said there were 13 employees still working past their retirement age, costing the council Sh14,781,511 each year.

DEVOLVED STAFF

The report shows that there is a total of 903 devolved staff in the county, the group that consists of the highest number of non-existent workers — 85 out of 166.

“The audit revealed that the devolved staff cost the county a total of Sh7,664,064 per month. Out of the 14 workers who did not have letters of appointment, 11 were devolved staff,” said the governor.

“There are 11 individuals who are not in the human resource staff register but are on the payroll. This costs the county Sh1,837, 273 each month, which translates to Sh22,047,276 annually.”