Tale of ghost workers minting billions as more Kenyans suffer

In a country where millions struggle to find employment amid a sluggish economy, the government is grappling with an ironic and costly paradox: it is paying thousands of workers who do not exist.

The ghost workers continue to drain public coffers, with the latest report by the Public Service Commission indicating at least 17,000 are still on the national government’s payroll.

The report, which is part of the PSC’s 2024 compliance review, reveals several government institutions, including high-profile ones like State House, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and Kenya Railways, list more employees than are physically present in their offices.

Kenya Railways has the highest number of’ ghost workers at 1,261 out of 3,287 listed employees. Nearly four of every 10 are illegally pocketing taxpayers’ money.

Kenya Railways managing director Philip Mainga, in a recent interview with the Star, however, dismissed the ghost workers claims saying there were none in the corporation.

A headcount of workers at State House verified 1,533 employees, 156 less than 1,689 indicated in the database while 231 staff members at the state broadcaster KBC could not be accounted for.

The PSC found out that ministries have the largest number of undocumented staff at 12,329 followed by state corporations, which reported 2,486 ghost workers.

The menace is also rampant in public universities, with Meru University leading with 75.

The University of Nairobi had 27 while Kirinyaga University registered 21 extra employees. “The institutions that presented inconsistencies in the number of staff in the bio-data against the list of officers in terms of service to explain the discrepancy,” the report recommends.

Although the state employer requested the affected entities to explain discrepancies, threatening to take action in a report released mid-last month, the Star could not verify if the PSC followed up on the matter.

However, speaking in Naivasha on Tuesday last week, Public Service and Human Capital Development PS Amos Gathecha said the government has embarked on a major initiative to enhance efficiency in public service payroll management by integrating the Human Resource Information System – Kenya (HRISKe) with key financial platforms.

The integration of HRIS-Ke is expected to revolutionise public sector payroll management by providing a centralised system for processing salaries, enforcing statutory deductions, and ensuring compliance with government payroll policies.

HRIS-Ke, a web-based payroll module, was developed in line with Executive Order No. 2 of 2023, which mandated the Ministry of Public Service and Human Capital Development to oversee human resource information systems and payroll policy across the public sector.

The system is designed to function as a one-stop portal for human resource services, offering real-time payroll data exchange, seamless auditing, and improved decision-making for government institutions.

“By ensuring that all payrolls are migrated to this platform by June 30, 2025, we are taking a crucial step towards accountability, efficiency, and better service delivery,” Gathecha said. The ministry has already rolled out HRIS-Ke to 199 payroll sites, including 39 state agencies.

Central Bank of Kenya’s Temenos T24, a core banking system, SHIF/SHA, and NSSF will ensure that payroll remittances are processed in a timely manner, particularly for statutory deductions.

According to PS Gathecha, the platform will not only enhance payroll processing but also improve financial oversight within government.

Treasury CS John Mbadi has also committed to implement cost-cutting measures and payroll reforms to address the rising wage bill headache, among the reforms being linking government payroll to an Integrated Financial Management Information System to eliminate ghost workers.

According to Mbadi, there have been cases of deceased individuals remaining on the payroll for years.

“Kenya needs a system that will eliminate these ghost workers who are denying us the resources we need for development,” he said, stressing the urgency for curbing the problem which he said has led to the loss of hundreds of millions of shillings in fraudulent salaries.

This is the second time the government is seeking to ride on technology to end the ghost workers’ crisis after a similar plan initiated in 2015 flopped.

A report by Auditor Genera Nancy Gathungu recently revealed that the Integrated Management Information System, which sought to bring transparency in payroll and recruitment, lies in ruins, incomplete and unused, 10 years later.

This is despite the state paying Sh67.9 million for the system. The Auditor General termed the procurement process around the system as a “symbol of bureaucratic inefficiency and wasted taxpayer funds.”

Even with the government facing a deepening crisis over the persistence of ghost workers in its payroll, the PSC failed to explain why the Financial Management and Project Management, Asset Management, Human Capital Management, and Recruitment and Selection modules had not been developed.

The project remains incomplete nearly a decade later, raising serious concerns over accountability and wasteful expenditure.

The issue of ‘ghost’ workers is even more prominent in counties, with the latest report by Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o showing the devolved governments paid Sh15.8 billion to non-existent employees in the 2023-2024 financial year, bypassing the legal system meant to track such expenditures.

Kisii county had 1,314 ghost workers, followed by West Pokot and Kiambu with 2,300 and 2 , 2 9 9 non-existent employees, respectively.

Others are Vihiga, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kitui. In the prev i o u s year, ghost workers in counties reaped Sh35 billion from where they didn’t sow - even as the government exerted more tax pressure on companies and households to finance a bloated budget characterised by high wage bills and debt obligations.

“I would like to thank Murang’a county government for being the only devolved administration which has a seamless payroll since it has done away with manual payroll. All the county workers are put under integrated payrolls,” the Council of Governors chief executive officer, Mary Mwiti, said.

A review of the status of IMIS in December 2024 revealed the system had not moved from test to live environment and no evidence of commissioning was provided, the Auditor General noted.

As ghost workers draw illegal salaries, the country’s wage bill continues to rise, accounting for the biggest pie of the national budget.

In 2024, Kenya’s wage bill, which is the total amount spent on salaries and benefits, was projected to be around 47 per cent of the estimated Sh2.49 trillion in taxes, a slight improvement from 2014.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission is focusing on reducing the wage bill to revenue ratio to 35 per cent by 2028.

While the ghost workers remain a dilemma, there are concerns over wasteful government spending amid high taxation and continued borrowing to meet budget deficits.

Former Transport PS Irungu Nyakera, who holds a master’s degree in finance and decision engineering, says government spending remains excessive and wasteful.

“The government has spent Sh9.2 billion on foreign travel, Sh7.6 billion on hospitality and Sh3 billion on luxury cars–all this while hospitals lack medicine, Kenyans struggle with cost of living and schools remain underfunded. Non-essential spending on travel, entertainment, and luxury perks must be cut to free up resources for critical sectors,” Nyakera said.

Kenya’s debt, currently at S h 1 1 tril - lion.