Senate Orders Audit to Determine Billions Owed to County Employees Nationwide
The Senate has launched a nationwide probe into billions potentially owed to county employees across Kenya, ordering a full audit of unpaid salaries, delayed gratuity, unremitted pension contributions, statutory deductions, and Sacco remittances.
Senate Committee Demands Nationwide Audit of County Employee Debts
In a decisive move to address growing complaints of financial mistreatment, the Senate’s County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC), chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’, has instructed the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) to carry out a thorough nationwide review. The goal is to quantify exactly how much Kenya’s 47 county governments owe their workers in delayed payments and withheld benefits.
The directive came during a heated session at Parliament Buildings on Monday, February 2, 2026, amid broader concerns that some counties routinely deduct funds from employees’ salaries—such as pension, Sacco, and other statutory contributions—but then fail to forward them to the intended recipients. This practice has left many workers facing severe financial strain, loan defaults, and lost retirement security.
Senator Kajwang’ did not mince words, declaring: “It is now clear that counties are mistreating the people who work for them.” He emphasized the particular distress caused by prolonged delays in paying gratuity to contracted or former staff once their service ends, pushing many into hardship.
Focus Starts with Bungoma County Amid Glaring Arrears
While the audit will eventually cover all 47 counties, CPAC prioritized Bungoma County as the immediate starting point, following scrutiny of its financial statements for the 2024/2025 fiscal year.
The Auditor-General revealed that, as of June 30, 2025, Bungoma owed employees Ksh 549 million in unremitted pension contributions. Salary arrears had reached Ksh 1.7 billion, primarily for unpaid wages in May and June 2025.
Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka appeared before the committee and confirmed that the Ksh 1.7 billion in salary arrears has since been cleared. However, the Ksh 549 million in unremitted deductions—to pension schemes, Saccos, and other agencies—remains outstanding. He attributed much of the backlog to the previous administration’s failure to remit deducted funds and backed calls for accountability, including prosecution of those responsible.
Gratuity issues also surfaced prominently. The county has not settled terminal benefits for staff who served under former Governor Wycliffe Wangamati from 2017 to 2022. Lusaka noted that gratuity for an earlier period (2013–2017) had been paid, but Bungoma Senator David Wakoli challenged this, highlighting unpaid gratuity for tutors from the governor’s first term in 2014, exposing apparent inconsistencies.
Aging Analysis and Tight Deadline for Full Report
To better understand the scale and patterns of these delays, CPAC directed the OAG to apply an ageing analysis—categorizing debts by how long they have remained unpaid. This approach will help identify chronic offenders, track trends across counties, and guide targeted interventions.
The committee has set a strict timeline: the Auditor-General must deliver a consolidated report covering obligations in all 47 counties within seven days.
Broader Implications for Accountability in Devolved Units
The Senate’s action highlights ongoing challenges in county financial management since devolution, where payroll and statutory remittances have frequently been flagged in audit reports. By starting with Bungoma and expanding nationwide, CPAC aims to enforce transparency, protect workers’ rights, and ensure that deducted funds actually reach their intended destinations.
For thousands of affected county employees—from health workers and teachers to administrative staff—the audit offers hope that long-overdue payments and benefits may finally be quantified and pursued.
Senate Orders Audit to Determine Billions Owed to County Employees Nationwide