President William Ruto's Senior Advisor on Constitutional Rights, Makau Mutua, has urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to create a special portal to expose ghost workers in the country's public sector.
In a statement on his official X account on Sunday, October 12, Mutua said that the new portal should be used by Kenyans of goodwill and whistleblowers to expose corruption and incompetence within both county and national government officials.
According to Mutua, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku should collaborate with other security agencies, such as the DCI, to weed out these individuals who are either relatives or close allies of Members of Parliament and other government officials.
"The EACC Kenya should open a public portal for whistleblowers and Kenyans of goodwill to anonymously report fake/ghost workers at the county and national governments. The culprits are known — relatives and cronies of MPs and senior officials," Mutua said.
Mutua's statement comes at a time when the government has reaffirmed its crackdown against ghost workers in all its departments.
One month ago, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku said that the government would release the names of all ghost workers in all government departments.
Speaking during an interview on Wednesday, September 17, Ruku confirmed that the ministry has completed auditing the government payroll at all county and national government offices.
According to Ruku, preliminary investigations into the payroll system exposed glaring irregularities, including double or triple payment of salaries to some workers. The CS further noted that public servants who report late to work would also be considered as ghost workers.
The CS noted that the government would take stern legal action against individuals who are found to have failed to perform their duties in their places of work.
"I have the experts who have been doing the payroll audit, and they will be coming to my office to do a presentation. There are issues, and I want to tell you that there are people who will suffer," Ruku said.
"Tomorrow we will know them because you cannot be given an opportunity by the government and fail to serve Kenyans," he added.
