Payroll heist: The ghosts in government's payroll

President William Ruto chaired a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi, where the government approved sweeping reforms to dismantle payroll fraud. [File, Standard]

The teacher in rural Murang’a took home less than one-third of her salary last month. The nurse at a Level 4 hospital in Kisumu has not seen a meaningful pay increase in three years. The civil servant in Nairobi commutes two hours each way because she cannot afford rent closer to her office.

Across Kenya, millions of public sector workers are tightening their belts, squeezed by a cost-of-living crisis, stagnant wages, and relentless government appeals for fiscal discipline. But as ordinary Kenyans sacrifice, a parallel universe thrives — one where ghost workers feast on the public purse, where senior human resources officers manipulate payroll systems with impunity, and where cartels have, for decades, siphoned billions from the sweat of the hardworking majority.