The World Bank has pushed the National Treasury to tighten control of government payrolls and stop irregular payments as Kenya works to strengthen management of public finances.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi held talks with World Bank Regional Practice Director Hassan Zaman and Divisional Director for Kenya, Rwanda and Somalia Qimiao Fan on Wednesday, September 2.
The discussions focused on reforms aimed at improving the accuracy of payroll and human resource records across national and county governments as well as other public institutions.
One of the proposed measures is the introduction of unified payroll numbers and the cleaning up of county payrolls using findings from the Office of the Auditor-General.
The reforms come as the Treasury seeks KSh94 billion in funding under the World Bank-backed Eighth Development Policy Operation (DPO 8).
DPO 8 is the final phase of a programme supporting public sector reforms and better management of government finances.
The push for tighter controls follows a forensic audit that identified suspected payroll fraud worth KSh6.2 billion across national and county governments.
Investigators found cases involving alleged ghost employees, forged records, multiple salary payments and questionable banking details.
Government figures have also indicated that more than 17,000 suspected ghost workers were identified across various public institutions.
The Public Service Commission has warned human resource officers against approving irregular payments and directed government agencies to process salaries only through the official payroll system.
The World Bank and Treasury also reviewed measures to strengthen fiscal discipline and improve the consolidation of government finances.
They further discussed the need to ensure additional allocations to county governments are approved and released on time.
Mbadi said the Treasury would work with the World Bank and other relevant agencies to address delays and complete the outstanding reforms within the DPO 8 timeframe.