A former Homa Bay County employee has been ordered to repay Sh708,664 after the High Court found that she received additional salary payments she was not entitled to over a period of more than three years.
Justice Benjamin Mwikya Musyoki held former medical social worker Evelyne Adhiambo Ogweno and former county payroll officer Maurice Ochieng Wambo jointly and severally liable for the money.
The judgment was delivered on Friday, September 18, 2026, following a recovery case filed by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
How did the additional payments happen?
According to court records, Ogweno received payments from the Homa Bay County Government between February 2015 and May 2018 that were above her regular salary.
EACC investigators examined her bank records and established that she had received a total of Sh708,664 in additional payments that she was not entitled to receive.
The court was also told that Ogweno had agreed to refund the money through monthly instalments of Sh10,000. However, she failed to honour the repayment arrangement.
Justice Musyoki ruled that the money was recoverable because it had been paid to Ogweno without entitlement, regardless of whether the payments resulted from deliberate conduct, fraud or an administrative error.
“What matters is that she received payments from the government which she was neither entitled to nor had earned,” the judge said.
The court consequently ordered Ogweno and Wambo to jointly and severally refund the full amount to the government.
What did the case reveal about Homa Bay payroll?
The case forms part of a broader EACC investigation into suspected losses of Sh42,249,988 through the Homa Bay County payroll system.
The anti-corruption agency had sued Ogweno alongside three former county payroll officials over the disputed payments.
However, the court dismissed the claims against two of the officials after finding that EACC had not provided sufficient evidence to establish that they authorised or facilitated the payments.
Wambo was found liable alongside Ogweno and ordered to pay the Sh708,664. The amount will also attract interest at court rates from the date the case was filed until it is fully settled.
EACC has separately indicated that it is pursuing criminal proceedings against public officials it considers to have played the greatest role in the suspected payroll fraud.