Embu — The County Government of Embu has been losing approximately Sh20 million annually through payroll mismanagement and discrepancies.

Governor Cecily Mbarire said the money was mainly lost through irregular allowances that some staffers have been earning.

She said some employees were earning rental house allowance as well as special house allowance while others were receiving special allowances on top of basic salary that amounted to double pay.

"You cannot earn a rental allowance and still get a special house allowance or earn a basic salary and also a special allowance, it's one and the same thing," the Governor said while receiving a staff audit report from the Institute of Human Resource Management at Kenya School of Government in Embu.

She said those implicated in the vice will be surcharged for the monies they have been receiving illegally, noting that lack of an internal audit department was largely to blame for the anomaly.

The county boss also said the report indicated that there were five cases of individuals sharing bank accounts within the county payroll that amounted to fraud.

"We want to find out how the individuals were earning a salary every month through the same bank, same branch and account," she said, adding that they will institute investigations into the matter as well as take appropriate legal measures.

She as well cited another case of payroll mismanagement whereby some 234 staffers were earning a different salary from the payroll from what has been stipulated in their letters of appointment.

Mbarire said action will not only be taken against the employees, but also on whoever was responsible for the scam.

She said the headcount also indicated that there was a variance of about 411 workers between the headcount and the payroll, but refuted the existence of ghost workers.

"The payroll shows that we have 2, 858 workers while the head count report indicated 3, 269 and the variance could be casuals or those contracted in various departments," she said. - Kna