Auditor General Nancy Gathungu hired 229 new staff members in 2024, a move that cost Kenyan taxpayers Sh720 million. According to MOE’s post on X dated June 2, 2025, the hiring was meant to boost the capacity of the Auditor General’s office to conduct special audits in the face of rising corruption.
While the move appears to respond to growing oversight needs, the high cost has raised questions about spending priorities and whether such an amount was necessary at a time when many government offices are facing budget cuts.
Gathungu, who has held the Auditor General position since 2020, has repeatedly complained about inadequate funding for her office. She has blamed budget cuts for delays in releasing audit reports and has pushed for more resources to address increasing workload.
The Sh720 million spent on the new staff—auditors and support workers was reportedly used during the financial year ending June 2024. This hiring is said to address staffing shortages caused by natural attrition and growing responsibilities, as her office now audits over 12,000 public entities, including newly established hospitals and schools.
The Auditor General’s office claims that these new employees will help reduce delays in audit reports and expand coverage, particularly in counties and parastatals where corruption has been a recurring problem.
Gathungu said the hiring would help form more teams and improve audit timelines. However, these claims have not silenced criticism. A reply to MOE’s post by @essjeins broke down the cost, suggesting that each staff member might be earning about Sh262,000 per month.
Another user, @Leleito, questioned why so much was being spent on post-event audits when the Controller of Budget handles real-time monitoring with far less attention. Reports from the Business Daily confirmed the hiring and the Sh720 million figure. The Standard also reported on Gathungu’s ongoing audit campaigns, while Eastleigh Voice covered the same developments, focusing on the scale of public funds her office is supposed to track.
The Nation reported in May 2024 that her office’s budget had recently been slashed, which only adds more confusion about how such a large recruitment exercise was funded.
There is a clear contradiction in government priorities. While other offices complain about limited resources, the Auditor General’s office was able to pull off one of the largest single hiring sprees in recent times.
Whether this money was spent efficiently is still unclear. Public confidence in audits depends not just on recruitment numbers but on results. If audit reports continue to face delays or fail to trigger serious accountability, then the Sh720 million will appear wasted.
The Auditor General’s office might claim it is trying to fix broken systems, but without measurable outcomes, the cost of these new hires will remain a point of contention.
Add Comment