The High Court has ordered a former Homa Bay County Government employee to refund Ksh.708,664 after finding that she received additional government payments she was not entitled to between 2015 and 2018.
Highlights
- Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno received Ksh.708,664 in additional payments.
- The payments were made between February 2015 and May 2018.
- The court found the money was irregular and recoverable.
- Ogweno and another defendant were ordered to repay the amount jointly.
- The court dismissed the claims against two other former payroll officials.
Main Story
Court Orders Recovery of Irregular Payments
The High Court has ordered the recovery of Ksh.708,664 paid irregularly to a former Homa Bay County Government employee.
In a judgment delivered on September 18, 2026, Justice Benjamin Mwikya Musyoki found that Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno received additional payments from the county government over a period spanning more than three years.
The court ruled that the money had not been earned or owed to her and should therefore be returned to the government.
How the Payments Were Made
According to the judgment, Ogweno initially worked as a registered community health nurse before being appointed as a nurse by the county government in January 2014.
Her starting basic salary was Ksh.19,323, with annual increments up to a maximum of Ksh.24,662.
However, between February 2015 and May 2018, an additional Ksh.708,664 was deposited into her bank account.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) relied on bank statements and other documentation to demonstrate the payments during the case.
Repayment Undertaking
The court also considered correspondence in which Ogweno agreed to repay the excess money through monthly instalments of Ksh.10,000.
Justice Musyoki said the undertaking amounted to an acknowledgement that she had received the additional payments.
The judge further held that it was not necessary to establish that the payments were made fraudulently or deliberately.
What mattered, according to the court, was that public funds had been paid to Ogweno despite her having no entitlement to the additional money.
The court consequently found, on a balance of probabilities, that she had received undeserved and irregular payments amounting to Ksh.708,664.
Two Payroll Systems in Operation
The case followed an EACC investigation into alleged multiple salary payments involving current and former employees of the county government.
Evidence presented before the court showed that Homa Bay County was operating two payroll systems at the same time—a manual system and the Integrated Payroll and Personal Data (IPPD) system.
The court found that the additional payments were connected to the manual payroll system.
EACC had also sued three former county payroll officials alongside Ogweno.
However, the court dismissed the claims against the second and third defendants after finding that the Commission had not sufficiently demonstrated that they authorised or facilitated the irregular payments.
Fourth Defendant Held Liable
The court found the fourth defendant liable alongside Ogweno.
Justice Musyoki noted that the individual had been involved in the manual payroll system and had not participated in the proceedings to challenge the allegations against him.
The court therefore ordered Ogweno and the fourth defendant to jointly and severally refund the Ksh.708,664.
The amount will attract interest at court rates from the date the suit was filed until it is fully paid.
They were also ordered to meet EACC’s costs of the case.
Meanwhile, the claims against the second and third defendants were dismissed, with EACC directed to meet their costs.
The judgment highlights the courts’ position that public funds paid to an individual without a lawful entitlement can be recovered even where the circumstances behind the payment are attributed to an administrative error rather than deliberate fraud.
The ruling sends a clear message: public money paid without a lawful entitlement can still be recovered, even when the payment is blamed on a payroll error.
