NAIROBI, Kenya – Over 3,800 workers employed by Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration are under the spotlight after an audit revealed widespread irregularities in their recruitment and payroll management.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, in her 2023/2024 report, found that the hiring was done without advertisements, employment plans, interview reports, or score sheets — making it impossible to establish how the employees were recruited or whether their jobs even existed in Nairobi County’s official staff establishment.
“Recruitment was done for cadres that could not be traced in the staff establishment, scheme of services and IPPD. These included Chief Executive Officers for City County Referral Hospitals. In addition, there was no clarity on the minimum requirement of the grade,” the report noted.
Ghost Hiring, Salary Manipulation
The audit also uncovered irregular salary payments, with the county continuing to pay 13 dismissed staff for up to two years.
Some received backdated salaries without explanation or disclosure of total amounts involved.
The Auditor General faulted the county for ignoring the Public Service Human Resource Policy, 2016, which requires salaries of absentees to be stopped within 10 days of non-reporting.
Payroll manipulation was another red flag. Some officers’ basic salaries were altered multiple times in a single year, with one officer’s pay adjusted six times.
A total of 3,216 staff changed job groups more than once in 12 months, while 24 officers were promoted three times in the same period.
The report further flagged:
- 3 officers whose payroll numbers were linked to different ID numbers at different times.
- 24 officers attached to multiple tax PINs.
- 197 officers whose dates of birth were changed several times.
Unqualified Staff in Senior Roles
The audit also detailed cases of officers promoted or appointed to senior positions without the required academic qualifications or experience.
Among the examples:
- A Director of Infrastructure and Information Security appointed without a Master’s degree in ICT or strategic leadership training.
- An Assistant Director of the same docket elevated despite having been a Computer Programmer and lacking the mandatory three years of senior-level service.
- A Senior ICT Officer appointed despite previously serving only as a county security warden.
- A Deputy Director of Cultural Development who had only been promoted to Assistant Director in April 2022 but was elevated again in less than three years.
Another officer was named Principal ICT Officer in May 2023 despite never serving as Chief ICT Officer or in an equivalent position.
