A house committee has directed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to recover the Sh358.8 million overpaid as salaries to staff members.

The members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised concerns that the speed being used by TSC to recover the monies was slow yet it is public funds.

The decision of the committee came after TSC confirmed that the Sh358.8 million was actually overpaid to staff members.

TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia said the recovery period of the said money had taken more than one year because the overpayment involved the recovery rate on payroll, which is one-third of the basic salary as per section 19 (3) of the Employment Act 2007.

She said: “For teachers who have left the employment of the commission, the overpayment once recorded is recovered progressively through mechanisms set out in the overpayment policy for teachers who are out of TSC employment.”

Left Employment

Macharia said that the recovery process of the monies overpaid to teachers who have left employment involves the issuance of demand letters and follow up with the teachers concerned, liaising with the co-operative societies to ask them to release the teachers’ Sacco savings to defray part of the overpayment, liaising with other employers whether teachers are currently employed, as well as liaising with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kenyan embassies where the teachers are in foreign countries.

Adds the document: “This process may take more than one year before the commission receives the refund. Further, the commission also recovers any government liabilities from the pensions of teachers who have retired through the National Treasury. This may also take more than one year before the commission receives the refunds.”

Individuals owing

Among the individuals who owe the commission money include a Ms Rose Towet from Kericho who was overpaid Sh4.4 million, for the period August 14, 2016, to December 3, 2020, a Ombeng Okello who was overpaid Sh4.3 million for the period September 1, 2017 to January 31, 2022 and John Sankalle Maina who was overpaid Sh3.7 million for the period January 12, 2011 and November 30, 2012.

Reads the letter: “The commission demands that you settle the amount said in cash to the TSC account. In the event of your failure to honour this demand, the commission shall proceed to recover the said amount in accordance with the laid down procedures and without further communication on the matter.”

The response by TSC comes after Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her report noted that a review of the ageing analysis on the salary overpayment provided for audit revealed that overpayments amounting to Sh358,796,308 or 80 per cent had been outstanding for periods exceeding one year.

Reads the report: “Management indicated that the overpayment had grown over the years due to manual and previous reporting systems that were inefficient. Further, Management through various mechanisms adopted recovery of salary overpayments, amounting to Sh108,096,613 for the year under review from payroll and other avenues. Although progress has been made in the recovery of the salary overpayments, further effort is required to recover the outstanding amounts. In the circumstances, the effectiveness of the measures put in place to recover the overpaid salary could not be confirmed.”