A forensic audit commissioned by Kisii Governor Simba Arati has unearthed a total of 1,314 ghost workers in the county.
The audit conducted by the Institute of Human Resource Management included a physical headcount of all the county staff.
Of the 5,600 workforce on the county's payroll, 1,314 employees did not show up during the employment validation process.
The report which was handed over to Arati on Wednesday noted that it was not possible to account for the 1,314 workers who did not make a physical appearance for the headcount.
It is not clear how the ghost workers found their way into the payroll with Arati's administration expected to use the report as a basis for thorough investigations by authorities.
“Out of the 5,600 “workforce”, 1,314 are ghost workers who failed to turn up for the two month headcount,” Arati said when he received the report at the Gusii Stadium on Wednesday.
The governor who was accompanied by his deputy Robert Monda said the details of the staff audit will now be utilised to clean up the county's payroll.
Kisii County Assembly Speaker Phillip Machuki Nyanumba was also present at the event attended by county officials.
“The recommendations will help us address emerging staffing, remuneration challenges among others which, will enable us, have in place a sound County Public Service team,” Nyanumba said.
Arati claimed that between January and August 2022, the county' payroll had strangely shot up by over Sh600 million.
“This is among other shocking discoveries,” he said.
The staff audit was launched three months ago and involved physical verification of employees, validation of their academic certificates and employment letters.
