Auditor General flags Health Ministry over Sh766.5 million paid outside payroll

Payroll summary report at Human Resources office. [iStockphoto]

The Ministry of Health is in the crosshairs of the Auditor General over the payment of Sh766. 5 million in salaries outside its payroll database.

In her latest report, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has flagged the ministry for going against the Treasury directive to ensure that all payments are done through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Database (IPPD) system.

The Auditor General's report for the 2022/2023 financial year highlights that the ministry's statement of receipts and payments reflects a compensation to employees amount of Sh14,157,676,754, which includes Sh766,458,883 that was paid outside the IPPD system.

"... This is contrary to The National Treasury directive that requires personnel emoluments to be processed and paid through IPPD. In the circumstances, the existence of effective mechanisms on the payroll could not be confirmed," notes Gathungu in the report.

According to the report, however, the ministry management confirmed that the payments were made to the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) project, Cuban doctors and Malaria vector specialists processed outside the system.

At the same time, Gathungu also questioned the ministry's decision to send 35 Kenyan doctors for training in Cuba for a course that could have been undertaken in the country.

In the damning report released on June 30, the Auditor General said that a total of Sh493,959,203 had been allocated by the ministry for doctor's training expenses.

She also revealed that the ministry entered into a contract to train 50 doctors in Family medicine for two years at a cost of USD 2,147,625 (Sh214,762,500), without evidence that the course was not available in Kenya before granting approval to train in a foreign institution.

Gathungu further notes that Sh15,168,550 had already been incurred on 35 Kenyan doctors undertaking Family medicine training in Cuba.

"This is contrary to Paragraph 4.2.1 of the Guidelines on Managing Training in Public Service, 2017, which provides that an approval to train in foreign-based institutions will only be granted in instances where the courses applied for are not available in local institutions. In the circumstances, management was in breach of the guidelines," reads the report in part.

Interestingly, the Auditor General went on to note that a review of human resource records revealed that the trained doctors are not employees of the Ministry but are employed by various county governments which manage their human resource matters including training.

She further said that the ministry had not provided the criteria used in identification, selection and award of the scholarships and reasons why the training could not be done by the respective County Governments.

The Auditor General explained that since the ministry does not manage the payroll for these employees, the recovery of 20 per cent training levy for the sponsored doctors was not made, although management had requested various counties to recover the training levy.

"This was contrary to the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016 which states that officers attending courses lasting more than four (4) weeks in institutions outside the country will contribute at the rate of twenty percent of their basic salary per month for the duration of the course," said Gathungu.

"In the circumstances, management was in breach of the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the public service," she added.