The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has successfully reclaimed Ksh222.3 million from educators who received excess payments, a result of payroll inconsistencies stemming from the reliance on manual reporting methods.
This was revealed by the Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, who has cast a spotlight on persistent payroll management weaknesses across various government agencies, including national and county governments, with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) being no exception.
In her audit report for the financial year ending June 2024, Gathungu revealed that the TSC had overpaid teachers a substantial Ksh433.9 million, attributing this considerable sum to the inefficiencies inherent in previous manual reporting systems.
“Management indicated that the overpayments had grown over the years due to the previous manual reporting systems that were inefficient.” She stated.
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Despite the commission’s efforts to reclaim these funds, a significant portion remains outstanding.
“While the commission has recovered Ksh222.3 million, salary overpayments totalling Ksh211.6 million remain outstanding.” Gathungu further disclosed
A deeper analysis of the overpayments provided for audit revealed a concerning trend: over two-thirds of the salary overpayments have persisted for more than a year.
“Review of the ageing analysis on the salary overpayments provided for audit revealed that overpayments amounting to Ksh296,409,143 (68 per cent) had been outstanding for periods exceeding one year.” The Auditor General noted
The total overpayments represent a notable 30 per cent of the Ksh1.43 billion that the commission was owed by various parties as of June 30, 2024.
The TSC, tasked with managing one of the government’s largest salary budgets, spent Ksh340.07 billion in the year ending June 2024, primarily allocated to teachers’ salaries. The Controller of Budget (CoB) attributed this substantial allocation to the commission’s expansive role in teacher management.
“The high allocation for the TSC is attributed to its vital role in teacher management for primary and secondary schools under the Teacher Resource Management Programme and General Administration, Planning and Support Services Programme.” The CoB said.
Beyond the TSC, both the Auditor General and the Controller of Budget have consistently highlighted widespread issues in payroll management. These include instances of manually disbursed salaries, the employment of “ghost workers,” and payments made outside official human resource systems.
In the 2023/24 financial year, the CoB observed that counties manually processed Ksh3 billion in salaries during the first quarter alone, a figure that escalated to Ksh7 billion within six months. Many of these payments were directed towards casual employees, with audits frequently flagging a conspicuous lack of supporting documentation to verify the existence of some purportedly paid individuals.
By Cornelius Korir
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