Special payroll audits by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu examined 26 Kenyan counties from December 2024 to February 2025, finding 596 out of 2,354 sampled workers untraceable despite repeated verification efforts. These ghost employees received Sh978 million in salaries from July 2021 to June 2024, with Nairobi leading at Sh47.6 million paid in 2024/25 alone. Extrapolated across full payrolls, losses could reach Sh33.5 billion this financial year due to weak manual systems and poor controls, amid calls for biometrics and a unified national payroll.
