Kenya’s public debt stands at Kes.8.4 trillion as of March 2022. A significant percentage of debt goes to the wage bill to pay salaries at the national and county governments. Unfortunately, the biggest challenge posed by this is the issue of ghost workers.
Ghost workers are employees who appear on an entity’s payroll but they don’t work for the particular entity.
On the 25th of August 2022, all newly sworn-in governors signed and took an oath of Integrity Codes before the High Court Judges and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officials. “Signing of the Integrity Code signifies a commitment and pledge by the State Officer that as they discharge their duties to the public, they will uphold the integrity and not betray public trust in any way. The Code is under Part II of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012,” the Ethics and Anticorruption Commission stated.
Kisii Governor Simba Arati has been one of the first governors to embark on unearthing ghost workers. Speaking at a function on the 31st of August, the governor poked at the fact that there were 256 drivers while the county only had 82 vehicles. “I expected to see 256 drivers who I called here, this is a sickening message, and how else can we explain? Are some drivers passengers in those vehicles? I need answers from these departments, someone must be in jail, I saw DCI here, you have been joking with the lives of these drivers, eating insurance money, we won’t allow” Governor Simba Arati.
The EACC is seized of the allegations of insurance fraud and ghost workers in Kisii County Government and yesterday the 1st of September, launched investigations per its mandate.
“EACC expects incoming Governors and their administrations to cooperate and give us details of these emerging scams to inform interventions. We hope that they will not fall prey to any temptation to run down their counties like some of their predecessors,” CEO Twalib Mbarak stated.
Will the new crack on ghost workers lead to better resource management?
