Senators question Sh48m irregular staff allowances, salaries in Bomet

Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok/FILE

Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok came under fire from senators after an audit revealed that his administration may have lost up to Sh48 million through irregular payment of salaries and allowances to county staff.

The governor appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) to respond to queries raised by the Auditor-General for the period ended June 30, 2025.

The panel, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, accused the county government of presiding over widespread administrative failures, particularly within departments considered critical to the smooth running of the devolved unit.

They argued that the scale of irregular payments pointed to deep-rooted incompetence in handling human resource matters.

“The buck stops at your door and you must take full responsibility for what is happening. Your human resource management is in a mess. You can’t correct the mess. You are presiding over a mess,” Senator Enock Wambua said.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said the audit findings suggested that competence does not guide recruitment at the county.

He argued that the magnitude of the irregularities raised serious questions about the calibre of officers managing payroll and staff affairs.

According to the Auditor-General’s report, Bomet county failed to comply with fiscal responsibility requirements on its wage bill and made multiple irregular payments, including salaries and allowances that had not been approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

These included personal allowances, special house allowance, extraneous allowance, special salaries, non-practising allowance and uniform allowance.

The audit also cited overpayment of basic salaries, irregular responsibility allowances, flawed recruitment processes, and irregular engagement of casual workers.

The county also failed to comply with laws on the employment of persons with disabilities, made irregular promotions, retained staff beyond the mandatory retirement age, breach the one-third basic salary rule, and failed to comply with legal requirements on ethnic balance.

A breakdown of the questioned Sh48 million shows that 706 staff members were paid Sh14 million in allowances that had not been approved by the SRC.

Some 131 employees received Sh2.5 million as extraneous allowance they were not entitled to.

Additionally, 17 officers were paid special salaries amounting to Sh2.9 million but also received basic salaries and other allowances totalling Sh9.2 million, resulting in double payment.

Another 36 officers were paid Sh1.2 million in non-practising allowance despite being ineligible.

The audit noted that this payment violated an SRC circular dated August 10, 2023, which limits the non-practising allowance to medical officers, dental officers and pharmacists.

Irregularities were also flagged in the payment of uniform allowance, where 428 nurses received Sh4.3 million despite SRC guidelines classifying the allowance as non-remunerative and requiring that nurses be issued with uniforms instead.

Further, 83 officers inherited from defunct local authorities were paid basic salaries amounting to Sh41 million, exceeding the Sh25.5 million ceiling set under the September 1, 2012 collective bargaining agreement, resulting in an overpayment of Sh15.5 million.

Another 53 officers were paid Sh1.4 million in responsibility allowance despite the benefit not being provided for in their appointment letters.

On recruitment, the audit revealed that the County Public Service Board hired 47 officers without preparing the mandatory annual human resource and recruitment plans.

Two officers were recruited into positions that could not be traced in the approved staff establishment, while four others were hired into posts that had neither been declared vacant nor advertised.

“Everything that should have gone wrong in Bomet County has already gone wrong,” Senator Wambua remarked.

Governor Barchok, however, defended his administration, saying the situation had significantly improved since he assumed office in 2018.

He described the clean-up of the payroll as an ongoing process.

“The situation is better than where we found it. It was worse,” the governor said, noting that the county had conducted three major payroll clean-ups and engaged human resource consultants.

He added that some allowances had been scrapped and recovery measures initiated for irregular payments already made, assuring the committee that corrective measures were ongoing.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

Senators have questioned Bomet County’s handling of staff salaries and allowances after an audit flagged Sh48 million in irregular payments. CPAC accused Governor Hillary Barchok’s administration of deep-rooted human resource failures, citing unapproved allowances, double payments, flawed recruitment and breaches of SRC rules. While the governor defended ongoing payroll clean-ups, the findings highlight persistent governance weaknesses in county administrations, weak internal controls, and the slow pace of reforms despite repeated audits and Senate oversight.