By Edward Lyomu | Mulembe Times | July 18, 2025
A former Homa Bay County doctor has been ordered to refund Ksh.5.8 million in unlawfully received salary payments, as a damning audit revealed that at least 1,786 county staff were irregularly hired or were ghost workers, costing the public hundreds of millions of shillings.
The shocking findings stem from a comprehensive personnel audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) between November 2022 and June 2025, commissioned by the Homa Bay County Government to clean up its bloated and irregular payroll system.
The audit uncovered deep-rooted irregularities, including:
- Employment of individuals without letters of appointment or contracts
- Use of fake academic certificates
- Inclusion of underage individuals in the payroll
- Widespread ghost workers, many drawing salaries without records in the county’s human resource databases
- Workers paid from multiple departments simultaneously
Among those flagged was a former doctor, who had reportedly drawn Ksh.5.8 million in salaries without valid employment documentation or confirmation of qualifications. After internal investigations and legal follow-up, the doctor was ordered by authorities to refund the total amount.
In response to the audit’s findings, Governor Gladys Wanga has vowed to take firm action, including disciplinary measures, prosecution, and salary recovery from all individuals found culpable.
“This is a betrayal of public trust. We will not allow a few individuals to cripple essential services by diverting public resources meant for healthcare, infrastructure, and development,” said Governor Wanga.
The audit further revealed that the ghost worker crisis was costing the county as much as Ksh.300 million annually—a staggering figure in a region where essential services like healthcare and education are already strained.
Health sector workers, already reeling from salary delays, non-remittance of statutory deductions, and staff shortages, have welcomed the audit and demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
Civil society groups and county unions are now calling for urgent intervention from national agencies such as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Auditor-General, and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to conduct deeper investigations into how the system was manipulated for so long without detection.
“This is not just an internal issue. The scale of the fraud demands a national-level probe to protect public finances and restore public confidence,” said a spokesperson from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Homa Bay branch.
The revelations come at a time when counties across Kenya face mounting scrutiny over misuse of devolved funds. In Homa Bay’s case, the findings have sparked renewed calls for public finance reforms, digitization of human resource systems, and the establishment of real-time payroll verification to eliminate fraud.
Governor Wanga has pledged to implement all recommendations from the audit, including streamlining staff records, cleaning the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD), and working with enforcement agencies to recover misappropriated funds.
As the county moves to tighten its controls, the case of the Ksh.5.8 million doctor refund could be the first of many similar actions, as Homa Bay sets a precedent in fighting graft and restoring integrity to county service delivery.
