Uhuru orders audit over Sh1.8bn loss to ghost workers

President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered an external audit of the public service payroll after findings indicated a possible loss of Sh1.8 billion a year in irregular payments to ghost workers.

President Kenyatta said a partial audit carried out in eight ministries indicated that “a considerable number of officers who are either on secondment, are deceased, retired or have deserted their duties” were still being paid.

He said the audit revealed Sh70 million in irregular payments, which when extrapolated to all 18 ministries amounted to Sh150 million a month.

“In my view, this has contributed in the continued expansion of the wage bill, over and above the true and correct position,” President Kenyatta said in a statement to newsrooms on Thursday.

“It is with this in mind, and considering the significance of these preliminary findings, and the consternation that these revelations portend, that I am directing the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, in collaboration with the National Treasury to outsource this assignment, he added.

The President said a final report of the external audit is expected to contribute to the rationalisation of the public service.