City Hall probes payroll scandal

A picture of City Hall, Nairobi taken on March 5, 2014. PHOTO/SALATON NJAU

What you need to know:

  • An audit by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) sought to identify ghost workers in the payroll
  • 54 employees had remittances from other employers
  • Ten employees were found to have exceeded the retirement age of 60

Hundreds of city county employees are being investigated in connection with payroll anomalies.

The county government now wants the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to take up some of the cases.

The massive mess at City Hall was unearthed after an audit by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) that sought to identify ghost workers in the payroll, those involved in identity theft, those who did not work for the county, and those still on the payroll despite having reached retirement age.

The audit was to further unearth those involved in other payroll anomalies, like age manipulation.

A special team carrying out the investigations found that 54 employees had remittances from other employers. “In some cases, the name given to NHIF is the same as that on the NCC payroll, while in other cases the names are different, but the ID is the same ID. These may be employed elsewhere hence may not be fulfilling their duties at NCC. There are also possible ID theft cases,” the PwC report said.

Ten employees were found to have exceeded the retirement age of 60, while 13 others who failed to produce their IDs during the 2010 verification were still appearing on payroll.

There were 93 employees not vetted in August 2013, but appear on the payroll for January 2014.

Another 42 workers, it was found, had not applied for leave since 2010, while 104 staff had duplicate account numbers.

The county government has reported the anomalies to EACC and has also asked its payroll staff to explain and provide documentary evidence in relation to each of the anomalies.

Governor Evans Kidero said he was working with the anti-graft agency to see that all those who have been earning double salaries were arrested and prosecuted.

“We are also going to surcharge other employees,” he said.