PSC flags over 2,000 government workers paid off-system in payroll breach

 A report by the Public Service Commission (PSC) has raised concerns over salary payments made outside the official payroll system, revealing that over 2,100 government workers were paid manually.

Among these, staff records did not account for 1,665 employees, which sparked concerns that they might be ghost workers.

The review shows that only 411 of the affected employees were listed in the official staff biodata, contrary to public service regulations that require salaries to be processed through an integrated payroll system.

Along with technical, operational, and support workers, even top management staff received compensation outside the system.

The breach was widespread, involving five constitutional commissions, 15 ministries, six public universities, 20 parastatals, and 14 technical and vocational education and training institutions (TVETs).

The Kenya Wildlife Service had the highest number of cases, with 853 employees receiving salaries manually.

Murang'a University of Science and Technology followed with 292 employees, while the Office of the Deputy President recorded 107 cases. South Eastern Kenya University had 73 such instances.

State corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies accounted for 1,085 cases, while public universities had 416.

Ministries and state departments paid more than 340 workers outside the payroll, while constitutional commissions recorded 76 cases and TVET institutions had 137.

According to the report, 1,178 employees were paid manually for periods ranging from one to six months, 785 for seven to 12 months, and 11 for over a year.

The actual numbers could be higher, given a previous expose revealing over 17,000 unverified staff in the civil service.

Database inconsistencies

The PSC report highlights inconsistencies in databases maintained by ministries, departments, and state agencies, noting that they did not match the actual number of employees physically in post.

Ministries recorded the highest discrepancy with 12,329 extra employees, followed by state corporations (2,486), public universities (1,885), commissions (225), and statutory authorities (75).

The affected employees were paid through bank transfers, payment vouchers, cash, and cheques.

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• 000 government workers paid off-system in payroll breach

The most common reason cited for off-payroll payments was irregularly scheduled payments, followed by cases where employees were not listed in the payroll system.

While some cases were attributed to terminal dues or payroll integration delays, no clear reasons were provided for many of the flagged cases.

Both the Controller of Budget and the Auditor General have raised concerns about such payments.

In a recent audit, Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o revealed that select counties paid workers Sh2 billion outside the payroll system within three months.

"Reliance on manual payroll systems is susceptible to misuse and increases the risk of public funds being lost," Nyakang'o warned.