About 20 counties manually paid employees salaries amounting to Sh3.4 billion, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has revealed.

According to her, the move circumvents the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Data (IPPD) system used to manage payroll and human resource information for public sector employees to avoid duplication and inefficiencies associated with manual payroll management.

Reads the report: “This violates the provisions of The National Treasury Circular No.13/2019, dated August 28, 2019 which requires that all personnel emoluments be processed through the IPPD system.”

Out of the 47 counties, Machakos and Nairobi recorded the highest manual payments of Sh487 million and Sh463.4 million respectively.

Older workers

Samburu county made manual payments of salaries amounting to Sh319.6 million, Nandi paid Sh296.9 million, Nyeri (Sh268.6 million), Kisumu (Sh210 million), Mandera (Sh188.9 million), Laikipia (Sh159.3 million), Busia (Sh119 million), while Kiambu paid Sh65.3 million.

Others are Nyandarua (Sh57.8 million), Narok (Sh48.5 million), Uasin Gishu (Sh29.5 million), Wajir (Sh23.8 million), Tharaka Nithi (Sh16.7 million), Siaya (Sh14.5 million), Trans Nzoia (Sh11 million), Nakuru (Sh1 million), Marsabit (Sh288.6 million) while Garissa paid Sh377.7 million.

The report for the financial years 2023/2024 has further flagged six counties for having retained 302 employees who are above the mandatory retirement age of 60 years or 65 for People with Disabilities (PWDs).

The affected counties include Mombasa with 96 workers, Nakuru (77), Nandi (27), Lamu (4) while Migori and Bungoma counties have 17 and 79 employees.

This, the report says, is in violation of Regulation 70(1)(a) of the Public Service Commission Regulations, 2020 and Section D.21 of the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016.

Reads the report: “This failure to enforce retirement policies inflates the wage bill and limits employment opportunities. It may also point to a lack of succession planning within the counties.”

The report has also raised questions on  irregular recruitments, shared bank accounts and delays in confirmation of employees.

In Kisii, for example, the report said that the best-performing candidates in interviews were overlooked, raising concerns about fairness and transparency in the hiring

Process, in Mombasa County, 16 employees were promoted without undergoing performance appraisal, in Kisumu County, some workers advanced by more than two job groups within a single year without sufficient justification while in Nandi County employees were promoted despite unresolved disciplinary or integrity issues, thereby undermining the credibility of the human resource management with regard to rewards and sanctions.

The report further shows that there were delays in staff confirmations and long probation periods.

Confirmation process

Affected counties include Nyamira where 1779 employees remained on probation beyond six months, in Bungoma, 672 employees exceeded their probation periods, depriving them of full employment benefits, in Migori 1,126 exceeded their probation periods, highlighting inefficiencies in the confirmation process and potential exploitation of employees.

With regards to the use of shared bank accounts for salary payments, the report says that in Bomet county, for instance, salaries were deposited into shared accounts, increasing the risk of fraud and misappropriation.

 In Narok, 110 employees were hired without clear human resource planning or proper justification for their positions, in Siaya,20 staff members were found to be sharing the same bank account which compromises transparency and accountability in payroll management.