Counties have until October 1 to migrate their management systems to a unified human resource platform that is used across the public service in the latest effort to curb pilferage, especially in paying workers.
The Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakango said that the 47 devolved units have less than two weeks to move to the Unified Human Resource UHR Information System for the public service.
The counties are currently using a mix of manual and Integrated Payroll Personnel Database IPPD, which has been a convenient platform for fraud given the fact that manual systems are prone to abuse.
The National Treasury made a commitment to the International Monetary Fund last year to get rid of graft in the payment of workers at national and county levels.
All the County governments, including the County Assemblies, are required to migrate to the Unified Human Resource HR Information System for the public service by 1st October 2022, in line with the guidelines of the Head of the Public Service, said Ms Nyakango.
By the end of June, none of the counties had shifted to the unified system, according to Ms Nyakango.
The payments of staff salaries and other benefits in the counties continue to grow every year due to system gaps, causing delays to be paid for the delivery of basic services like health and construction of roads, water and sewerage lines.
The push for counties to adopt a common system that brings together all public entities comes with increasing cases of manual payments worth billions of shillings.
The CoB report shows that counties paid salaries worth Sh 15.63 billion for the financial year ended June, with Ms Nyakango singling out the payments for possible fraud.
A majority of counties involved in the payments cited lack of personal numbers for dozens of staff as a result of fears about the existence of ghost workers on their payrolls.
The new system will provide reliable information on the public service numbers, wages and allowances, helping to avoid double payment of workers at the two levels of government.
Treasury made a commitment last year to keep all national and county government workers on the unified system as part of reforms to improve transparency.
Ms Nyakango said that her office will not approve requisitions from county entities that will not have complied by October 1.
The transparency weaknesses in the management of two payrolls has left gaps for some workers to get double pay at both counties and national governments.
A unified system will help track national and county government entities that pay salaries and other benefits outside the prescribed caps, according to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission last year.