Makau Mutua urges EACC to expose ghost workers tied to powerful officials
By Kiprono Keileb, October 12, 2025Chairperson of President William Ruto’s Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Protests, Makau Mutua, has urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to open a public reporting portal to expose ghost workers in both county and national governments.
In a statement shared on his X account on Sunday, October 12, 2025, Mutua said such a move would empower Kenyans to play an active role in fighting corruption by anonymously reporting fake or non-existent workers who continue to draw salaries from public coffers.
“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,” said Mutua.
He stated that most of those behind the ghost worker scandal are not unknown faces but individuals connected to political power. “The culprits are known, relatives and cronies of MPs and senior officials,” he added.
Mutua’s call comes at a time when concerns about bloated government payrolls have continued to dominate public debate, with billions of shillings being lost annually to fictitious workers.
The issue of ghost workers has long haunted Kenya’s public service, with past audits revealing shocking figures of non-existent employees drawing salaries. However, efforts to eliminate them have often been slowed by weak accountability systems and political interference.
Mutua’s proposal for an anonymous whistleblower portal would mark a new approach, one that puts the power in the hands of citizens to expose corruption safely and directly. By allowing individuals to submit information confidentially, the system could help identify and remove thousands of fake names from payrolls, saving taxpayers huge sums.
His remarks also highlight a growing public frustration with how corruption networks are often protected by powerful figures.
Mutua’s message serves as a reminder that the fight against corruption, particularly in public service management, cannot be won through government efforts alone; it requires ordinary citizens to step forward and demand accountability.
Through his call, he challenges EACC to open its doors wider to public participation and to leverage technology to end one of Kenya’s most entrenched forms of corruption.