Auditor General Raises Discrepancy in Ksh 428M Civil Servants Salaries

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu speaking at a conference on Monday, April 24, 2023.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu speaking at a conference on Monday, April 24, 2023.
Photo
OAG

The Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, has exposed a glaring discrepancy in the basic salary paid to civil servants at the State Department for Crop Development and Agricultural Research under the Ministry of Agriculture. 

Gathungu, in her latest report, stated that the department failed to account for the Ksh428,998,000 that was paid out as salaries, from the Ksh906,819,870 it received from the Treasury. 

An analysis of the corresponding ledgers for the period in question, between July 2022 and June 2023, even revealed more variances.

At the beginning of the first quarter of the financial year 2022/2023, July, August, September and October, Ksh 6,495,827 entered did not match what was recorded in the ledgers and the payroll.

A file image of someone counting Kenyan money
Kenya introduced new currency notes in 2019.
Photo
AJ Kenyan Safari

Consequently, a Ksh6,957,440 difference was incurred between the two books in November and December of that year.

In 2023 January to June a Ksh40,715,133 variance was also recorded between the ledgers and the payrolls.

"In the circumstances, the accuracy and completeness of basic salaries of permanent employees amounting to Kshs428,998,000 could not be confirmed," Gatungu stated in the report.

Gathungu, also claimed that Kenyan employees working in foreign countries were paid twice their salary range.

Kenya’s High Commissioner to the Republic of Malaysia who was appointed with effect from August 15, 2018, was to receive a maximum salary of Kshs320,000 per month.

However, the Public Service Commission through a letter dated September 18, 2019, advised the Ministry to increase the salary to Kshs344,286 per month.

"However, the Officer was erroneously paid a gross salary of Kshs659,286 per month for the period between February 12, 2019, to June 30, 2020, and Kshs661,676 per month for the period July 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021, instead of Kshs344,286," Gathungu clarified.

As a result, an overpayment of Kshs6,779,624 was made to a single employee.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu at a public event in Nairobi in 2019
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