Ex-Homa Bay Staff, Boss Ordered to Refund Ksh 708K Salary after the Milimani High Court delivered a judgment enforcing full restitution of public funds siphoned through an illegal double salary scheme.
According to an official court judgment delivered on September 18, 2026, by Justice Benjamin Musyoki, the former county staff and payroll officers were found liable for the misappropriation of public revenue.
“I therefore find and hold that on a balance of probabilities, the 1st defendant received undeserved and irregular payments from the government amounting to Kshs. 708,664.00 during the material period,” Justice Musyoki ruled in his official judgment.
The legal action stems from an inquiry into systemic payroll irregularities where former medical social worker Evelyne Ogweno was paid double monthly salaries between February 2015 and May 2018.
Court records reveal that Ogweno, initially appointed as a community health nurse on June 24, 2013, before transitioning to the county health department, received the extra disbursements into her KCB account.
How the Homa Bay Double Salary Scheme Executed
Over the 39-month period, Ogweno irregularly pocketed KSh 708,664 over and above her approved basic entry-level salary package.
The court evaluated evidence including an email from Ogweno to investigators offering to repay the money in KSh 10,000 monthly installments, which Justice Musyoki noted served as an admission of receiving unearned public funds.
Justice Musyoki further noted that the duplicate disbursements were enabled by operating parallel manual and digital Integrated Payroll and Personal Data (IPPD) systems concurrently.
The judgment held Ogweno and former payroll officer Maurice Ochieng Wambo jointly liable, finding that the siphoning occurred under the unmonitored manual payroll framework.
Conversely, the High Court exonerated two co-defendants payroll officers who operated the digital IPPD system ruling that there was no proof they authorized or facilitated the duplicate payments.
Justice Musyoki emphasized that under Article 226(5) of the Constitution, public officers who direct or approve unlawful expenditure bear personal financial liability to make good the loss.
The court ultimately declined to award exemplary damages beyond the KSh 708,664 restitution, holding that requiring full repayment restores the lost public funds without amounting to double compensation.
