Muhoroni Sugar bosses earn for staying at home
Part of the factory facility at Muhoroni Sugar Company in this picture taken on May 27, 2019.
What you need to know:
- Seven managers continue pocketing millions after being ousted over graft claims.
- The loss-making miller owes farmers, suppliers and workers millions of shillings in unpaid bills.
Seven senior managers of Muhoroni Sugar Company continue to earn millions of shillings in monthly salaries while taking it easy at home after workers forcefully evicted them on corruption claims.
The bosses, whose fate is yet to be decided, have earned for 18 months without working according to a special audit tabled by Auditor General Nancy Gathugu.
The miller, which is among those listed for leasing by the government, continues to make losses and owes farmers and suppliers, and workers millions of shillings in unpaid bills even as it pays managers relaxing at home.
The auditor faulted receiver managers Harun Kirui and Francis Ooko for failing to decide on the fate of the seven who are being paid parallel with another set of managers appointed to hold their offices.
“The receiver managers have failed to provide strategic direction on human resources at the company.
“This has resulted in the company having two sets of management comprising the ousted and acting management teams both of whom are drawing salaries resulting in loss of Sh6.4 million in form of salaries incurred on moribund management team,” Ms Gathugu wrote in the report.
Fleecing the company
The seven comprising general manager Nashon Osieko, factory manager Walter Odum, sales and marketing manager Dan Odongo, human resource manager Rachael Mayaka and management accountant Raphael Muyonga have not been on duty since June 2019 when workers accused them of fleecing the company and evicted them from offices.
They have been earning the salaries as a fraction of their monthly payments since the factory began paying workers in bits after more than seven months without pay last year.
The evictions reportedly split the two receiver managers with one in support while the other averse according to the auditor, a move that has made the impasse harder to crack.
The audit also found massive loopholes in the company’s payroll system, making it easy to manipulate as one could add or delete ‘critical employee data’ in the payroll without audit trails and without need for approval or verification.
