President William Ruto’s Cabinet has directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to investigate suspected payroll fraud after a government audit uncovered irregularities amounting to KSh6.2 billion in a sample of State Departments.

The directive was issued during a Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, June 30, following the approval of sweeping reforms aimed at cleaning up the government payroll system.

Cabinet said the reforms are intended to eliminate long-standing payroll fraud and strengthen accountability in the management of public funds.

“President William Ruto today chaired a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi, where Cabinet approved sweeping reforms to dismantle deeply entrenched and decades-long payroll fraud in Government, restore integrity to the public wage bill and safeguard taxpayers’ money through a whole-of-government payroll clean up,” the Cabinet statement said.

The Cabinet said the move follows a comprehensive government payroll audit, which found widespread weaknesses in payroll governance where a sample audit conducted across 12 of the 53 State Departments revealed suspected payroll irregularities worth KSh6.2 billion, including unauthorised alterations to payroll records, irregular payments, weak controls over statutory deductions, fragmented payroll management and major oversight gaps.

In response to the findings, Cabinet directed the DCI to launch investigations and pursue those behind the alleged fraud.

“Consequently, Cabinet directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate payroll fraud, verify personal numbers used in payroll processing, dismantle criminal networks manipulating Government payroll systems, recover lost public funds, and ensure the immediate arrest and prosecution of all persons found culpable,” the statement added.

The Cabinet also approved immediate implementation of a comprehensive payroll reform programme to strengthen oversight across the public sector.

The reforms include a government-wide audit of all remaining State Departments and public institutions, mandatory migration of all ministries, departments, agencies and State corporations onto the revamped Integrated Human Resource and Payroll System, enhanced cybersecurity measures, payroll data cleansing and validation, establishment of a disaster recovery site, and integration of payroll with other public financial management systems.

Cabinet said the measures are intended to strengthen payroll governance, seal loopholes exploited by fraudsters and protect taxpayers’ money through a more secure and accountable public payroll system.