Government warns public servants of a salary payment disruption

The government, through the Ministry of Public Service, has given all ministries, departments, state agencies and county governments one month to migrate to the Human Resource Information System (HRIS),  failure to do which their salaries will not be processed.

Speaking on Wednesday, July 8, during the handover of the independent payroll audit report to the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Cabinet Secretary Geoffrey Ruku said the government will not remit salaries for ministries and county governments that have not migrated to the new payroll system.

According to Ruku, the mandatory migration to the HRIS is part of a broader government strategy to strengthen accountability, eliminate payroll fraud and improve oversight of public sector employees.

“We have issued a circular that all ministries, departments and county governments must be onboarded on the HRIS, and we have given them a period of one month to do so. If they fail to do that, within the period, the salaries will not be remitted,” Ruku stated.

The directives followed a recent cabinet meeting that approved the migration to the new system after an audit report revealed a Ksh6.2 billion fraud in the current payroll system within the public service.

Following the fraud identification, the cabinet directed the DCI to launch an independent investigation into the matter.

“As part of the implementation process, I am here today to formally hand over the payroll audit document to DCI Director General Mohamed Amin to mark the commencement of the investigative process on matters requiring criminal investigations as identified in the findings,” the CS added.

He said the move demonstrates the government’s commitment to ensuring allegations of fraud, abuse of office and financial impropriety are investigated independently and in accordance with the law.

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According to Ruku, HRIS is capable of accommodating all government institutions, including county governments, and will allow authorities to monitor payroll activities in real time.

“We are monitoring all the activities in the system in real time. Any single manipulation can be seen from our side,” he said.

The CS also noted that the government is planning to integrate the HRIS with other public financial management systems, including the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), to strengthen payroll controls and improve transparency.

As part of the reforms, the Public Service Ministry will institutionalise continuous payroll audits across government, with the cs confirming that payroll audit teams have already been established in every ministry and department, with similar teams set to be rolled out in county governments.

At the same time, Ruku also called on the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to provide approved salary structures for all government agencies and urged the Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve human resource instruments for all public institutions within one month.

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