TSC recovers Sh222.3m in overpaid salaries, audit reveals

By Newsflash Writer

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has recovered Sh222.3 million out of a total Sh433.9 million that had been erroneously paid to teachers, a recent audit has disclosed.

The overpayments occurred due to the use of a manual salary processing system, which led to discrepancies in remuneration. These errors triggered audit queries, prompting the Commission to reclaim funds from teachers who had received salaries above their approved rates.

In her audit report for the financial year ending June 2024, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu confirmed that while progress had been made in recovering the funds, a balance of Sh211.6 million remains outstanding.

“Management indicated that the overpayments had accumulated over the years due to the inefficiencies of the manual reporting system. However, the Commission has since initiated several recovery mechanisms, successfully reclaiming Sh222,305,447 from payroll deductions and other avenues during the year under review,” Ms Gathungu stated.

Two-thirds of overpayments still pending after a year

According to the audit, a significant portion of the total Sh433.9 million in overpaid salaries had remained unpaid for over a year by the end of June 2024. The salary discrepancies accounted for 30 percent of the Sh1.43 billion the Commission was owed by various parties as of June 30, 2024.

“An ageing analysis provided for audit revealed that salary overpayments totaling Sh296,409,143 — equivalent to 68 percent — had been pending for over 12 months,” Ms Gathungu noted.

Despite the progress made, the Auditor-General emphasized the need for the Commission to intensify its recovery efforts to retrieve the remaining Sh211.6 million still owed.

Budgetary exposure and payroll weaknesses

TSC continues to be one of the government agencies with the largest salary budgets. In the year ending June 2024, the Commission spent Sh340.07 billion, with most of it going toward teacher salaries, according to a report by the Controller of Budget (CoB).

“The high allocation for TSC reflects its central role in managing teachers in primary and secondary schools under the Teacher Resource Management Programme and the General Administration, Planning and Support Services Programme,” the CoB stated.

Nonetheless, the audit underscored that the Commission’s payroll system still has loopholes, especially due to the continued reliance on manual processes, which have previously led to financial mismanagement.

Manual salary payments under scrutiny

The TSC’s payroll challenges mirror broader issues across both national and county governments. In previous audits, both the CoB and Auditor-General have uncovered salary payments below the legal threshold of one-third of basic pay, incidences of ghost workers, and salaries processed outside of the human resource system.

For example, in the 2023/24 financial year, the CoB reported that counties had paid Sh3 billion in salaries manually during the first quarter alone — a figure that rose to Sh7 billion by mid-year. A significant portion of these payments were made to casual workers, with audits often flagging a lack of supporting documentation to verify that these individuals were indeed employed.

These findings highlight the continued need for stronger systems, accountability, and automation across public sector payroll management to ensure transparency and reduce wastage of public funds.