The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nancy Macharia, on Tuesday, February 20, appeared before Parliament to shed light on the Commission's rising expenditure, which was mainly attributed to salary overpayment.
While appearing before the National Assembly's Public Accounts Committee, the MPs sought clarification on allegations of malpractices carried out via the tutors' payment system.
This is after a report by the Auditor General indicated that the Commission overpaid salaries by Ksh466 million during the Financial year 2021/2022.
In contrast, the MPs questioned why the amount had grown to insurmountable proportions compared to the Ksh114 million overpayment flagged by the AG during the previous financial year.
"As disclosed in Note 9 to the financial statements, the statement of assets and liabilities reflects accounts receivables balance of Ksh852,488,748 which includes an amount of Ksh466,892,922 in respect of salary overpayment," read part of the report by the Auditor General.
In her defence, Macharia claimed that the overpayments increased over the years due to an inefficient reporting system.
She pointed to a system delay that failed to delete the profiles of teachers who had either resigned or passed away, leading to salaries being erroneously remitted despite the obvious mistake.
“Salary overpayment occurred as a result of the delay in stoppage of salary of employees upon death, desertion of duty, resignation, transfer of services, sick leave, interdiction, and absenteeism,” the TSC boss argued.
Additionally, the committee questioned why the Commission operated without medical cover for staff for several months, which it said was a breach of law.
Macharia, in her rejoinder, stated that delays in procuring an insurance firm were occasioned by delayed disbursement of funds by the Treasury.
"Procurement of the medical cover was affected once the budget was enhanced," Macharia remarked.
Despite Macharia's clarifications, MPs demanded a forensic audit of the TSC payroll system to investigate the extent of the salary overpayments made in subsequent years.
