January 20, 2025

Summary

Hard pressed Kenyan taxpayers will be galled to hear that government ministries ‘employ’ 12,329 people who appear to be ‘ghost’ workers.

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Kenya’s 17,000 civil service ghost workers

Kenya’s 17,000 civil service ghost workers

A report by the Public Service Commission (PSC) has found that government agencies have some 17,000 people listed on national government payrolls who do not actually exist but still draw a salary.

Government ministries 12,329 ‘ghost’ workers

Hard pressed Kenyan taxpayers will no doubt be galled to hear that government ministries ‘employ’ 12,329 staff holding positions out of 72,557 listed on staff registers who appear to be ‘ghost’ workers.

According to the report, state corporations have 2,486 non-existent staffers, Kenya’s universities 1,885, 225 in commissions and independent offices and 75 at statutory authorities.

The scourge of ghost workers is also rife in the counties with (2023 figures) 1,314 in Kissii county, 2,300 in West Pokot and 2,299 in Kiambu.

Will anything be done about long-running ‘ghost workers’ scandal?

The PSC report calls for action by the agencies that have a discrepancy between employee data bases and the number of people really employed.

“The institutions that presented inconsistencies in the number of staff in the bio-data against the list of officers on terms of service to explain the discrepancy” the PSC report states.

The PSC report is to be welcomed but will anything actually be done? Ghost workers cost the Kenyan taxpayers billions of shillings and the scandal has been on-going for many years. The Kenya Forum has written on the subject many times in the last 15 years. It’s time for action.
Kenya Forum readers may be interested to read the following articles going back to November 2010:

Spooky but true – The ghost workers of NCC (9/11/2010)

National Museums of Kenya paid Ksh481 million to ‘ghost workers (14/8/2023)

Ghost workers fake bills in Trans Nozia (25/3/2013)

Garissa County’s ghostly workforce (17/11/2022)

Did KNBS pay ‘ghost workers’ Ksh18.5 million? (20/11/2021)

Biometric registration discovers 12,000 ghost workers on government’s payroll (20/11/2014)

Uhuru steps in to exorcise ghost workers via registration of civil servants (9/2/2014)

Nairobi ghost workers – When will this scandal end? (7/3/2014)

Ghost busters needed in Nairobi: NCC has 2,260 ‘ghost workers’ (9/9/2013)

Ghostly apparitions from Nairobi to Mombasa: ghost workers costing govt (24/7/2013)

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