State fast-tracks purge of ghost workers from payroll

Kenya is moving closer to lowering its wage bill as the Government fast tracks the process of cleaning the public service register of ghost workers.

This comes following the speeding up of the biometric civil servant registration process, which is currently in the final stretch and is expected to be completed by February next year.

Big problem

The results of the biometric registration process launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta three months ago are expected to give a detailed account of ghost workers in the central and county governments, as well as ministries and departments drawing a salary from taxpayers.

The Ministry of Planning and Devolution, headed by Anne Waiguru, is running the registration process, with consulting firm Ernst and Young carrying out the audit.

“The issue of ghost workers has been a big problem not only for the Government, but also for taxpayers who carry the burden of our wage bill, and we expect this exercise to eradicate this menace,” said Mr Kenyatta during the launch of the exercise, dubbed Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation.

In a past audit report, it was found that Kenyan taxpayers lose an estimated Sh2 billion to ghost workers on the public service payroll across the country.

MASSIVE LEAKAGE

The massive leakage translates into more than Sh150 million spent monthly in salaries for civil servants who are non-existent, dead, retired or have been laid off.

The vice has spread to the new county governments, with Nairobi, Mombasa, Kakamega and Bungoma among those generating long lists of workers who are collecting State pay cheques without lifting a finger.

According to a preliminary audit report seen by Business Beat, 39 of the 47 counties have completed more than 70 per cent of the processes involved in biometric registration.

“Key milestones have so far been achieved by the system, but there is a need for all ministries and departments to complete the remaining aspects of the programme,” reads the report in part.

There are some counties, however, that are yet to fully co-operate with the exercise, with some moving to block the process in court.

These include Kisumu, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia and Migori counties, which have filed legal suits to halt the registration of civil servants in their regions.

The main concern has been that the exercise would lead to mass layoffs, but Ms Waiguru has maintained it would not affect genuinely employed staff.

Retirement age

The Government launched the biometric civic registration process after mounting criticism of Kenya’s wage bill, which currently stands at more than Sh400 billion, meaning it takes up about half the country’s annual revenue.

In the initial phase of the registration process, more than 12,000 employees failed to show up for the exercise and had their salaries stopped as a first step in striking them off the payroll.

Further, more than 300 officers were identified as being older than the official Government retirement age of 60, with the report recommending their retrenchment.

There were also accusations of State officials in positions of authority replacing the names of dead or transferred personnel in various departments with the names of their friends and relatives.

The Government plans to pursue such officers and take legal action against them.

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