Finance office in trouble over statutory deductions

Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu. [File, Standard]

Workers have accused the county administration of failing to remit statutory deductions to relevant agencies.

A number of employees who spoke to The Standard said they had been penalised by banks, Saccos and the Kenya Revenue Authority after the county failed to remit deductions.

“My pay slip is very clear that the money has been deducted but it is never remitted to the bank to service my loan," said John Njoroge, the branch secretary of Kenya National Union of Nurses (Knun).

A county employee who declined to be named for fear of being victimised claimed that the county had not remitted more than Sh300,000 income tax deducted from her salary to KRA

“I was very shocked to learn that the county has not been remitting my PAYE to KRA for the last one year despite my pay-slip indicating that it has been deducted,” said the employee.

Another employee who also requested anonymity claimed that the county had not been remitting her monthly insurance premiums.

“Early this month, the insurer notified me that my employer has not been remitting my monthly contribution since December last year,” she said.

County Finance CEC Mburu Kang’ethe said he was aware of the problem and blamed Treasury for delays in releasing money to counties.

Mr Kang’ethe claimed that the problem was not unique to Kiambu.