The police officers and county government officials conducted a raid following a tip-off from their intelligence in Homa Bay where they arrested eleven workers in a cyber café who were forging documents of appointment letters during the ongoing County government payroll audit that seeks to weed out ghost workers who have been illegally earning from the public coffers.
According to the County Government Executive Committee Member in charge of Administration, Communication and Devolution, Ms. Mercy Osewe who led the operation together with police officers, some of the workers who do not have the required employment documents are rushing to cyber cafés to forge their documents to secure their positions in the ongoing audit.
“In the raid that happened today, 11 people were arrested right here in Homa Bay town at a cyber café. For now, we cannot tell whether they are county workers since investigations are ongoing,” Osewe explained.
Ms. Rachael Ogutu, the county government Spokesperson, says that the audit which is being conducted by PwC aims at cleaning the payroll by reducing the current wage bill.
“As part of the verification, we have been vetting staff and they need to bring different documents such as their contracts letters, confirmation letters, promotion letters and others,” Ogutu said.
“A number of staff, about 130, as of yesterday did not have the necessary documents…I think today some of those who didn’t have the documents got the idea to go and make fake documents so that they could come and be verified to get their cheques.”She added.
The suspects are being detained at the Homa Bay police station for interrogation before their arraignment.
