This archive report was first published on 11 July 2019.
Embu County's Health Committee is set to investigate the alleged payment of Ksh.500 million to ghost workers since 2013, following a revelation by Mwea MCA Harrison Mwaluko.
According to Mwaluko, who is also the Chairman of the Assembly's Budget and Appropriations Committee, the Health Department's budget for salaries for the 2019/2020 financial year was Ksh 1.62 billion, which is Ksh 500 million higher than the projected amount.
Speaking during a plenary sitting, Mwaluko urged the House to give the health committee more time to conduct investigations to reveal whether the County Government could have been losing money by paying ghost employees.
Health Committee Chairman Muturi Mwombo had earlier emphasized the need to hire more health workers for public health facilities across the county, citing a deficit of 199 nurses at the Embu Level Five Hospital and 625 nurses in other public health facilities.
However, Mwaluko differed, stating that with 634 nurses and an imagined salary of Ksh.60,000, the total of salaries for specialized and registered nurses would stand at Ksh 456.5 million, leaving little room for other cadres in the Health sector.
