President Ruto's Cabinet has directed the DCI to investigate suspected payroll fraud worth Ksh6.2 billion across government ministries and state corporations.
The government has directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to immediately launch investigations into suspected payroll fraud spanning Ministries, Departments, Agencies, and State Corporations, following alarming revelations of irregularities in the public wage bill.
The Cabinet Directive
The order was issued during a Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, June 30. According to a Cabinet dispatch, the DCI has been tasked with investigating alleged manipulation of payroll systems, including:
- Unauthorised alterations to payroll records
- Irregular payments
- Exploitation of weak internal controls within government institutions
The dispatch was direct about the scope of the mandate handed to investigators:
"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 Numbers Behind the Scandal
The decision to bring in the DCI wasn't made in isolation — it followed a comprehensive payroll audit that exposed the scale of the problem. Out of Kenya's 53 State Departments, a sample audit covering just 12 of them uncovered suspected payroll irregularities amounting to a staggering Ksh6.2 billion.
The dispatch broke down what the audit found:
"A sample audit of 12 of the 53 State Departments revealed suspected payroll irregularities amounting to Ksh6.2 billion, exposing unauthorised alterations to payroll records, irregular payments, weak controls over statutory deductions, and fragmented payroll management and major oversight gaps."
Given that this figure came from just 12 out of 53 departments, the total scale of payroll fraud across the entire government could be significantly higher once the remaining departments are audited.
What the DCI Has Been Told to Do
The Cabinet directive gives DCI investigators a clear four-point mandate:
- Verify personal numbers used in payroll processing across government
- Dismantle criminal networks suspected of manipulating payroll systems
- Recover public funds lost through fraudulent payroll activities
- Arrest and prosecute anyone found culpable, in accordance with the law
The government has framed this as a direct response to what it describes as deeply entrenched fraud that has persisted within public payroll systems for years, undermining the integrity of how the wage bill is managed.
A Nationwide Audit Is Coming
This isn't a one-off investigation. Cabinet has also ordered a nationwide audit of all remaining State Departments and public institutions to establish the full extent of payroll irregularities beyond the initial sample of 12 departments.
The goal, according to the dispatch, is to get a complete national picture of how deep payroll fraud runs across government before designing lasting fixes.
Moving to a New Payroll System
Alongside the criminal probe and expanded audit, Cabinet has directed all Ministries, Departments, Agencies and State Corporations to migrate to the newly revamped Integrated Human Resource and Payroll System (IHRIS).
The idea is to standardise how payroll is managed across the entire public sector and close the oversight gaps that allowed the alleged fraud to flourish in the first place — replacing what the audit described as a fragmented payroll management structure with one centralised, more accountable system.
What This Means Going Forward
With the DCI now cleared to investigate, arrest and prosecute, public attention will turn to how quickly — and how far up the chain — these investigations reach.
The scale of the alleged fraud, running into billions of shillings from just a fraction of government departments, has raised serious questions about how long these irregularities went unnoticed and who ultimately benefited.