in NEWS, POLITICS

Migori County On The Spot Over Increasing Wage Bill

by Mercy Auma May 21, 2021, 9:25 AM 1.5k Views

Migori County has been put on the spot over the increasing county wage bill.

The County’s Public Service Board chairman Jared Kopiyo has raised concerns over the county’s spending habits on wages. According to Kopiyo, the increasing spending on wages is likely to lead to downsizing.

For instance, Kopiyo alludes that there exist ghost workers in the county hence a headcount and payroll audit will be conducted to distinguish the genuine county workers from the ghost workers.

Currently, Migori County has approximately 3,000 workers on the payroll. In an audit conducted in 2018, it was revealed that the county was losing over Sh7.5 million monthly paying salaries to ghost workers.

Read: Nyamira County Paid Ghost Workers Sh2.8 Billion – Audit

The audit report further revealed that 48 county employees who had absconded duties were still taking home huge sums of money monthly.

There was also a list of those who were reported to be taking home undeserved monthly allowances hence the huge wage bills.

In yet a different account of events, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu earlier in February revealed that Nyamira County had paid ghost workers Sh2.8 billion in the 2018/19 Financial Year.

The audit report revealed that the executive hired some 736 officers and paid them outside the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database system.

“Analysis of the monthly gross pay rise of Sh3 million for staff is not supported with documents such as the approved pay change advice, Public Service Board minutes, human resource advisory committee minutes as well as letters of promotion,” the report read in part.

Nyamira County government was also on the spot for awarding a tender to a contractor who abandoned the construction of the county headquarters after receiving Sh32.5 million.

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