The High Court has ordered a former Homa Bay County Government employee to repay KSh708,664 after finding that she received irregular salary payments between February 2015 and May 2018.
Justice Benjamin Mwikya Musyoki entered judgment in favour of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), ruling that Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno received additional payments from the county government to which she was not entitled.
According to the judgment, Ogweno was initially appointed as a registered community health nurse before being employed by the county government as a nurse. Her entry-level basic salary was KSh19,323, subject to annual increments.
The EACC alleged that Ogweno subsequently received duplicate salary payments totalling KSh708,664 through her Kenya Commercial Bank account during the period under review.
In reaching its decision, the court relied on bank records presented by the EACC and an email in which Ogweno undertook to repay the excess funds at a rate of KSh10,000 per month.
Justice Musyoki said the repayment undertaking amounted to an acknowledgment that Ogweno had received excess payments, although the circumstances surrounding the payments remained a separate issue.
“Whether the same was fraudulent, deliberate or an error is another issue all together,” the judge stated, holding that the payments were nevertheless irregular and recoverable.
The court, however, dismissed the EACC's case against two other county employees who had been accused of facilitating or authorising the irregular payments.
The second defendant worked in the payroll section and later served as acting payroll manager, while the third defendant was payroll manager from June 2015 to December 2017. The anti-corruption commission argued that the two officials should have detected and prevented the duplicate payments.
Justice Musyoki found that the evidence did not establish that either official had authorised, facilitated or negligently caused the payments.
A key issue in the case was the existence of two payroll systems at the county government: a manual system and the Integrated Payroll and Personal Data (IPPD) system.
The court noted evidence that the second defendant primarily worked on the IPPD system and had no access to the manual payroll system, which was linked to the problems that enabled the duplicate payments.
The judge also observed that the disputed payments began in February 2015, several months before the third defendant assumed the role of payroll manager in June 2015.
Additionally, the EACC did not produce the alleged payment schedules or bank instructions signed or forwarded by the third defendant.
The court further found insufficient evidence to show that the second defendant had directed or approved the disputed payments.
In its final orders, the court declared that the KSh708,664 received by Ogweno between February 2015 and May 2018 constituted irregular salary payments and directed that the money be restituted.
