3,000 ghost workers exposed in UHC payroll scandal amid ongoing strike

The Ministry of Health has been paying salaries to over 3,000 ghost workers under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme, even as the strike by health staff enters its 17th week.

Investigations show that these non-existent workers have been receiving monthly salaries of Sh50,000 each, costing taxpayers more than Sh1.5 million every month. Since the flawed payroll system began in 2020, the country may have lost up to Sh9 billion.

The UHC programme was launched to strengthen counties' health systems at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Health recruited 8,571 workers to support the counties. However, the Council of Governors now says only slightly more than 5,500 can be accounted for in hospitals across the country.

“We have now discovered that the Government of Kenya is losing taxpayers' money by paying ghost UHC workers who cannot be accounted for because the list with the counties indicates that we have 8,571 medics. But when we look in our hospitals, they are not there because 3,000 of them are ghost workers,” said Council of Governors Health Committee Chairperson Muthomi Njuki.

Some 47 health workers who have either resigned or died are still listed as active on the payroll. Njuki is pushing for an urgent headcount, which he says must take place before UHC workers can be given permanent and pensionable terms.

“Even if the UHC medics are on strike over permanent and pensionable jobs and gratuity, which I agree is their right and should be paid, it is important for us to do a headcount,” Njuki added.

He cited discrepancies even in his own county, Tharaka-Nithi, where only 219 UHC workers were employed in 2020, yet current records show 223.

“We need to know them by name and verify who they are,” he said.

Njuki blamed unnamed individuals in the Health Ministry for resisting efforts by Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale to transfer payroll responsibilities to counties.

“There are cartels in the Health ministry which don't want Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale to transfer the payroll to counties because they benefit from the current chaotic system,” said Njuki.

Duale has acknowledged the irregularities, saying that he and his team found the system to be unlawful when they took over.

"The work of the Health ministry has been to pay salaries, which, upon getting here, both CS Duale and I found this to be against the law which is why, we have therefore decided that beginning July 1st 2025 all UHC staff will be paid by counties with whom they have signed legally binding contracts," said Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga in a letter to the Council of Governors dated May 14.

The letter includes a summary of payroll data and directs counties to confirm the number of staff under their jurisdiction. It also mentions that some UHC officers have had their salaries stopped for misconduct and absence.

Council of Governors data shows worrying mismatches in numbers across counties. Wajir County, for instance, shows only 46 active UHC medics, yet payroll records indicate 107. Kisii has 34 names that can't be accounted for, Meru has 25, and Murang’a has 24.

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• 000 ghost workers exposed in UHC payroll scandal amid ongoing strike

Even Nairobi County, according to UHC National Chair Desmond Wafula, has 17 medics on payroll who resigned. "Who pockets their salaries?" Wafula asked.

In Taita-Taveta, two deceased workers are still listed. “Nairobi County has 103 active UHC medics based on the headcount we have just conducted this morning, but as per the payroll data, the Health ministry insists that they are 120,” said Wafula.

Duale said the Ministry will support counties in a verification exercise to clean up the list. “We first want to know exactly how many they are,” he said.

He added that the Ministry has written to the Council of Governors to begin a fresh headcount this week.

“UHC medics have signed a contract with county governments. We as the Ministry of Health just play an advisory role, which is what we have done for the last five years,” the CS said.

As the strike continues and payroll irregularities unfold, the Council of Governors insists that resolution must begin with a verified headcount before any payroll transfer can take place.