The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly wants a forensic audit of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) payroll following allegations of malpractices in the tutors’ payment system.
The PAC, during the sitting chaired by Nominated MP John Mbadi, said it is only through forensic audit that malpractices will be unearthed and rooted out.
“If we feel there’s a problem with TSC payroll system, nothing stops us from calling for a forensic audit to understand it and call for a review,” said Mbadi.
The committee had met Dr Nancy Macharia, the commission CEO, who expressed fears that they were losing millions through fraudulent deals by corrupt officers.
According to Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the commission overpaid leave allowances and salaries to teachers and staff amounting to Ksh980,000. In FY2020/2021, TSC reported spending Ksh352 million on salaries, out of which Ksh114 were overpayments.
“The Commission overpaid leave allowances and salary arrears to 21 teachers and 75 Secretariat staff worth Ksh240,000 and Ksh740,000 respectively,” the report reads in part.
In her response, Dr Macharia told the committee the overpayment was as a result of reporting systems that were inefficient due to their manual nature.
“Salary overpayment was a result of the delay in stoppage of salary of employees upon death, desertion of duty, resignation, and transfer of services. Also (in question were) sick leave, interdiction, and absenteeism,” said Macharia.
The committee further questioned why the commission operated without a medical cover for staff for several months.
In her response, Macharia said the delay in procurement of a medical cover was occasioned by delayed disbursement of funds from Treasury.
“Procurement of the medical cover was affected once the budget was enhanced,” Macharia told the committee.
She said the commission has developed an overpayment policy and online service to improve efficiency with respect to death, resignation, desertion of duty, as well as absenteeism to facilitate payroll clean-up.
The committee demanded that TSC adopts a digitized system to seal the gaps that have led to salary overpayments even as some teachers complain of salary delays.
By our reporter
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