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State House, Immigration & 5 other gov't entities with 19,467 ghost workers

State House Kenya
State House Kenya

State House, Kenya, and New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) have emerged as the leading public entities with an unaccounted workforce, featuring 975 employees on the payroll but undocumented in the staff register.

The Public Service Commission's annual report for the financial year 2022/2023 sheds light on the state of compliance with constitutional values and principles, indicating a critical issue of ghost workers within government agencies.

State House Kenya, under President William Ruto, faced scrutiny for harboring 483 ghost workers, exposing a significant challenge in payroll management.

READ: How State House renovations have impacted Ruto's schedule and routine

Public organisations with excess staff

The report highlights alarming disparities in staff registers across various government agencies, revealing an excess of 19,467 personnel compared to the approved filled vacancies.

State House and New Kenya Cooperative Creameries stand out, with a glaring disparity of 483 and 492 employees, respectively.

"This raises serious concerns about the accuracy and transparency of staff records, as State House is a critical institution, and the Cooperative Creameries is a major player in the dairy industry," the report stated.

The report further discloses that 15 organizations, including Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority, State Department for Devolution, State Department for Higher Education and Research, and State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services, had excess members of staff against the approved levels.

READ: New State House images give glimpse of renovations at Ruto's official residence

Notably, five of these organizations had a workforce surplus exceeding 50%.

These findings underscore a systemic issue in human resource management within public entities, raising questions about the effectiveness of existing oversight mechanisms and accountability structures.

Lack of workload analysis in the Kenyan public system

The report emphasises that only 64 organizations out of 289 had undertaken workload analyses to inform their structures as a prerequisite to approval.

This implies that a significant number of organizations lack a strategic approach to staffing, potentially contributing to disparities and inefficiencies in their workforce management.

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The report indicates that four organizations—KEMSA, State Department for Transport, State Department for Higher Education, and State Department for Devolution—maintained excess staff levels, similar to the previous fiscal year.

This lack of corrective action suggests a failure to implement recommendations from the 2021/2022 report, pointing to a recurring issue that demands urgent attention.


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