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The county government of Homa Bay has discovered 1,786 ghost workers who were receiving salaries funded by taxpayers.

According to the audit report, the non-existent employees were employed during the tenure of former Governor Cyprian Awiti.

Homa Bay audit

The comprehensive audit report, conducted by the consultancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers and handed over to Governor Gladys Wanga and Deputy Governor Oyugi Magwanga, brought to light several concerning findings.

Among these revelations, three individuals were identified as underage for employment, according to statutory regulations. Furthermore, a staggering 129 individuals lacked any files in the County Registry and failed to produce essential documents during the audit. An additional 287 individuals failed to appear at all for the verification process.

The report also exposed 556 individuals who failed to provide any appointment letters or essential employment documentation. Shockingly, 10 individuals were apprehended at a local cybercafé producing falsified employment documents.

In addition, 322 individuals lacked the requisite academic qualifications or had not obtained the necessary licenses from their respective professional bodies. Kenya National Examination Council confirmed the inauthenticity of some individuals’ certificates.

The audit’s findings extended to 479 individuals on the payroll who could not be traced to departmental Human Resource lists.

Governor Gladys Wanga emphasized that the first phase of the audit primarily focused on verifying County employees and payroll data.

Homa Bay HRMS

She indicated that the subsequent two phases will involve establishing a clear staff structure for the County’s public service and implementing a Human Resource Management System aimed at serving the people of Homa Bay County more effectively.

“We shall now embark on an administrative and legal journey to ensure that we fully implement the recommendations given effective immediately until we establish an efficient and effective public service, which will enable my administration to satisfactorily deliver on our pledges and promises to the people of Homa Bay,” said Wanga.

“At the end, we look forward to making substantive savings on the public resources under our charge as an administration,” she added.

“We chose this seemingly longer path because we believe in the rule of law and respect for natural justice.”

Salary budget

Governor Wanga’s administration initiated the exercise to weed out ghost workers and to reduce wage bills which she said account for 75 per cent of the County’s budget.

“Homa Bay spends much of its Ksh7.8 billion budget on wages and recurrent expenditure. To improve service delivery we must streamline all our systems,” she said.

The exercise targeted permanent and pensionable and entailed a physical head count of all employees, a review of the payroll data against staff numbers, budgets, actual payroll, and payment details and testing the same for consistency, completeness and accuracy.

It also covered the study of employee bio-data, job groups, salary information, academic and professional qualifications and work status.

The employees were required to avail of National Identification cards or any other documents used during employment, a letter of employment or contract and letters of extension of the contract if any.

They were also required to produce letters of arrival at the workstation, confirmation, promotion if any, interdiction or suspension if any, three most recent payslips, certified copies of education and professional certificates and salary account details.