Education staff ordered to present documents for fresh headcount amid Sh6.2 billion payroll fraud probe
The exercise will cover all staff, including those who are hospitalised or on annual, sick, maternity, paternity or other authorised leave.
The Ministry of Education will lead a fresh physical headcount of public servants as the government intensifies investigations into suspected Sh6.2 billion payroll fraud that has implicated 84 human resource officials across three government institutions.
The exercise seeks to verify government employment records and identify irregularities in salary payments, including cases involving workers sharing bank accounts and individuals paid without valid bank details.
The State Department for Basic Education has directed all employees to present themselves for verification at Jogoo House from Monday until Wednesday, carrying their original national identity cards, Kenya Revenue Authority PIN certificates, first appointment letters and current appointment letters.
“Following a recent payroll audit conducted in various State departments and counties by the State Department for Public Service and Human Capital, it has become necessary that a physical headcount of all employees on the payroll be conducted in all State departments,” reads a memo by Secretary of Administration James Kianda on behalf of the principal secretary.
The exercise will cover all staff, including those who are hospitalised or on annual, sick, maternity, paternity or other authorised leave.
Kianda warned that employees who fail to undergo the headcount risk having their salaries stopped. He also clarified that staff who transferred from the Teachers Service Commission to the ministry must use the appointment letter issued by the ministry, while newly appointed Quality Assurance and Standards Officers will use the same letter as their first and current appointment document.
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“Salary for officers who would not have been counted will be stopped. If you transferred your services from TSC to the ministry, your letter of 1st appointment will be the letter you were given by the ministry. For the new Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (Qasos), their letters of first and current appointment will be the same. The exercise should be treated as urgent and mandatory and strict compliance with these instructions is expected,” Kianda says.
Public Service Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku said his ministry had received a Directorate of Criminal Investigations report implicating 84 human resource officials in the suspected fraud involving the Kenya Prisons Service, Kenya Police Service and Ministry of Health.
The officials with access to the payroll system have been directed to step aside for 30 working days as investigations continue. The Ministry of Public Service has deployed its own human resource officers to take over their duties to prevent disruptions to government operations.
“We have credible evidence as far as Kenya Prisons, Ministry of Health and also Kenya Police Service. And therefore any human resource manager with the user right to get into the payroll system must step aside for a period of 30 working days,” he said.
Ruku said arrests were expected before the suspension period ended, particularly within the Kenya Prisons Service.
“There will be arrests before the end of those working days, especially, and I want to say without fear of contradiction, from Kenya Prisons Service. People will be arrested before those working days come to an end,” Ruku said.
Investigators have flagged employment records showing some civil servants were recruited before they were born, while others were listed as joining the public service before turning 18. Other irregularities include several salaries being paid into one bank account and payments to individuals without valid bank account details.
“There are those employees who are sharing bank accounts. They are employees with no bank account, but money has been paid,” Ruku said.
Preliminary findings suggest some beneficiaries were recruited through colleagues, including human resource officers, and allegedly used to facilitate irregular payments. Investigators are examining whether some of the money was later transferred to accounts believed to be operated by officials who facilitated the transactions.
In June, the Cabinet directed the DCI to investigate payroll fraud, verify personal numbers used in salary processing, dismantle criminal networks manipulating government payroll systems, recover lost public funds and ensure those found responsible are arrested and prosecuted.
“Cabinet directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate payroll fraud, verify personal numbers used in payroll processing, dismantle criminal networks manipulating government payroll systems, recover lost public funds, and ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of all persons found culpable,” the Cabinet dispatch read.
The Cabinet also approved a government-wide audit of remaining State departments and public institutions, alongside the mandatory migration of all ministries, departments, agencies and State corporations to the revamped Integrated Human Resource and Payroll System.
The probe comes as Kenya seeks additional external financing to support its budget. Central Bank of Kenya Governor Kamau Thugge said the government was negotiating with multilateral lenders, including the World Bank and African Development Bank, for financing expected during the current financial year.
Speaking during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thugge said the talks included possible budget support and a World Bank Development Policy Operation.
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