Lack of integrity: Gathungu exposes payroll flaws in Uasin Gishu

Manipulation of staff payroll and personnel data, including duplication of account numbers, could be costing the Uasin Gishu government millions of shillings every month.

Auditor general Nancy Gathungu has exposed irregularities in the management of the payroll in the 2019-20 financial audit report on the county executive.

The report also reveals how millions of taxpayers’ shillings have been sunk in installed projects, unauthenticated pending bills and unexplained expenditures.

According to the report, Gathungu says there is "lack of integrity" in the integrated payroll and personnel database.

The auditor, upon reviewing the monthly payroll data, bank documents and master data, flagged several flaws, including duplication of staff payroll numbers.

“The monthly bank remittance/net pay data and monthly payroll data had duplicate account numbers,” reads the report that points to the possibility of payment of ghost workers in the county.

In most of her reports, Gathungu has exposed how counties are ‘creating workers’ – ghost workers – and paying them millions in salaries every month.

Staff have been accused of inflating staff numbers to pocket taxpayers’ money.

In her report putting the county government on the spot, the auditor general said bank account numbers in the master payroll maintained by the county did not match the payroll numbers of some employees.

“The bank account numbers in monthly payroll data and bank remittance were different from those in the master payroll/registers,” Gathungu noted said, as she questioned the integrity of the records.

“Consequently, the integrity of the information process through the payroll system could not be confirmed,” she reported.

The audit exposed the improprieties even as she revealed  the county government lacks an approved and staff establishment and organizational structure in each department.

The structure, which details the hierarchy of authority and responsibilities of every staff, is requirement of law.

“This is contrary to Section 5(2)(f) of the County Governments Act, 2012 and Article 235 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” the report states.

“It was therefore not possible to establish the span of control and responsibilities for staff,” it adds.

At the same time, Gathungu indicted the county administration for non-compliance with the law on staff ethnic composition.

According to the report, as at June 30, 2020, out of 3,358 employees, 2,589 or 79 per cent were from the dominant Kalenjin community.

Section 65(1)(e) of the County Governments Act, 2012 requires the County Public Service Board to ensure that at least 30 per cent of the vacant posts at the entry level are filled by candidates who are not from the dominant ethnic community in the county.

And in what could further focus a spotlight on the county, the auditor revealed that at least Sh57.78 million has been sunk in construction work on milk cooling plants.

The county had awarded a contract of Sh228.58 million for the construction of 46 cooling plants across the county.

However, physical verification of the projects showed that 10 plants worth Sh44.86 million had not been completed by June 30, 2020.

About Sh34.58 million had already been paid.

The contracts were awarded between May 10 and June 17, 2016, for six months.

In addition, construction of six milk coolers with a contract sum of Sh30.81 million and payments made of Sh23.20 million had stalled and contracts terminated, but had not been re advertised.

“Construction of most of the plants had been completed and coolers installed but were not operational as no electricity had been connected,” the report reads.

The auditor also flagged 886 court cases facing the county government and warned that they could financially drain the county.

“Pending unresolved cases may have a significant financial impact on the county government and can adversely affect future cash flows of the county,” the auditor reported.

(Edited by V. Graham)