Vihiga County government on the spot over payroll fraud  

Wilbur Ottichilo

Vihiga Governor Wilber  Ottichilo reads county staff payroll report 2013-2014 audit report at the county headquarters on July 4, 2018.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

Vihiga County government is on the spot after a report by the Auditor General revealed five employees have earned Sh1.7 million through a shared bank account.

The latest 2018/19 audit report also shows a number of other employees are sharing payroll details.

A review of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) payrolls and bank records shows the five employees are sharing the single Commercial Bank account that is domiciled in Machakos.

The report further reveals the existence of other employees who earn through duplicate payroll information that has seen the devolved unit pay Sh4 million as their salary in April, May and June, 2019.

Sharing ID numbers 

The report says some of the employees sharing national identification numbers have earned a total of Sh2 million while others sharing duplicate bank account numbers have taken home Sh1.9 million.

Sh138,970 has been paid to employees who have duplicate payroll entries.

“The management did not provide reconciliations and explanations for the duplicates. Consequently, the accuracy and validity of the total expenditure reflected in the statement of receipts and payments for the year ended June 30, 2019 could not be confirmed,” says the Auditor General.

According to the statement of receipts and payments, the devolved unit had budgeted Sh2 billion as an amount for compensation of employees.

The report says a review of payrolls indicates that there were numerous arithmetic errors in the payrolls.

 “The Sh2 billion that is reflected in the statement receipts and payments deferred by Sh347.6 million with the amount of Sh1.6 billion as recomputed from IPPD gross pay,” the report reads.

Manual payroll

It goes on: “During the month of June 2019, the amount reflected as total gross pay for trade market cleaners’ manual payroll was Sh16.7 million. However, the actual total gross pay amount on the manual payroll provided was Sh14.4 million leading to unexplained variance of Sh2.3 million.”

“Further, the subtotal indicated on the cost summary was erroneously computed as Sh28.6 million instead of Sh28.5 million, leading to unexplained and unreconciled variance of Sh40,214,” the report adds.

The audit also says a review of salary payment during the month of August 2018 and June 2019 indicated that the amount quoted on the payment voucher differed significantly in the personnel emolument cost summary letter from payroll manager.

In August 2018, the payment voucher had Sh171.6 million while the cost summary was Sh171.2 million leaving a difference of Sh380,000.

And in June 2019, the payment voucher had Sh210.5 million while the cost summary was Sh204.3 million leading to a difference of Sh6.2 million.