EACC Tells Public Officers With More Than One Job To Resign, Refund Money

A Nyeri Employment and Labour Court on December 20 declared the double employment of a public officer irregular and unlawful.

This was seen as a landmark ruling that will affect dozens of public officers holding more than one job in the civil service.

Justice Onesmus Makau delivered the ruling on a case filed by Agnes Wanjiru, a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and who worked as a part-time board member at Kirinyaga County Assembly Service Board between 2017 and 2022.

Justice Makau ruled that Wanjiru was not eligible for appointment as a part-time member of the board since she was a full-time public officer serving as a senior lecturer at JKUAT.

The court also found that she was not eligible for payment of the remuneration and benefits.

Wanjiru in her petition filed before court on August 2, 2022, had asked court to order the Kirinyaga County Assembly and the Clerk of the County Assembly barring them from acting on a directive issued by EACC stopping further payments to her on July 27 2022.

She also wanted EACC barred from interfering with her second job at Kirinyaga County Assembly and a declaration that she had not breached any law in serving as an external board member at the assembly while being an employee of JKUAT.

EACC challenged the case arguing that her appointment to the board amounted to double employment contrary to Article 77(1) of the Constitution and Section 26 of the Leadership and Integrity Act.

Following the ruling, EACC has initiated recovery of all the salaries, allowances, gratuity and other benefits earned by Wanjiru in the five years she served in the board where she was entitled to monthly retainer of Sh145,000.

This, according to the Commission, amounts to fraudulent acquisition of public property which is liable for forfeiture back to the Government.

In some cases, public officers are part of the ghost workers fraudulently included in the payrolls of county governments to draw salaries which they share with their masters, often senior county officials.

This case was initiated by the JKUAT Senior Lecturer, Dr Agnes Wanjiru Gatama, who sued EACC after it wrote to the Clerk of Kirinyaga County Assembly ordering him to stop any further payments to her, pending conclusion of investigations into the allegations of double employment.

EACC commenced investigations in April 2022 upon receipt of allegations that Dr Agnes Wanjiru Gatama, a full-time lecturer at JKUAT was also employed as an external member of the Kirinyaga County Assembly Service Board.

EACC is investigating a number of cases in the public service including the case of Jennifer Gatiri, the acting Secretary and CEO of the Council of Legal Education who is accused of holding eight public jobs which amounts to fraudulent acquisition of public property.

In the same vein, EACC says irregularities in employment in the counties is now emerging as the leading way that county officials are using to loot funds.

They include payroll fraud where payrolls are altered to fraudulently increase allowances, retain employees who have retired or exited the counties and placing some employees in higher grades.

Over-employment is another malpractice, County Public Service Boards being manipulated by governors to serve their interests, ghost workers who do not do anything but they earn salaries which they share with the top officials and employment or promotion of officials on the basis of forged academic certificates.

The commission has also blamed the governors for failing to implement key EACC reform recommendations arising from the Corruption Risk Assessments now undertaken in 28 out of 47 counties.