The Ministry of Public Service has announced that it will conduct biometric registration for all public servants.
Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Moses Kuria on Tuesday stated that the move will aid in chasing away what he referred to as 'ghosts'.
"As a country that is very religious, we are not doing very well in chasing away ghosts. This country is full of ghosts," he said in a statement.
The CS further stated that the government is paying ghost civil servants, and ghost teachers and spending capitation on ghost students while sending cash transfers to ghost elderly citizens.
As a result, Kuria noted that the biometric registration will reveal the number of public servants paid by the taxpayers including counties.
"As we accelerate our prayers to exorcise ghosts, the Ministry of Public Service will embark on biometric registration of all the 900,000 of us who are paid by the taxpayers. A payroll audit is also underway," he added.
In January this year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) unmasked close to 20,000 ghost workers on the government payroll.
A report by the commission flagged what is seemingly a bloated public service that is draining public coffers.
In the annual report covering the 2022/2023 financial year, PSC established that there were 19,467 additional employees in different government agencies and departments against the approved staffing levels.
State House and the New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC) Limited had an excess of over 100 members each with 15 other organisations listed as having more than 50 per cent of its recommended staff establishment.
The PSC revelation confirms reports by the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango on mismatch in the country's expenditure, where 70 per cent of budgetary allocations to both national and county governments is spent on recurrent expenditure, paying salaries, with a meagre 30 per cent or less spent on development.
Four organizations were listed as having defied the commission’s recommendations in the previous financial year regarding excess staff levels.
These are, KEMSA, the State Department for Transport, the State Department for Higher Education and the State Department for Devolution.
The excess staff in the establishments resulted in underutilisation of staff, bloated wage bills and strained workplace facilities.