Audit: nine diplomats paid nearly Sh1m extra allowances against mission rules
Key points
- Auditor-General found nine diplomats on foreign posting received nearly Sh1 million in extra allowances in June 2025 while already on Foreign Service Allowance plus basic pay.
- Total flagged: Sh987,480 across responsibility, entertainment, non-practising, domestic, special legal and salary market adjustment allowances.
- Payments breached Administrative Rules Governing the Service of Kenya Missions, including Section D.1(1) on Foreign Service Allowance as the monthly add-on for mission officers.
- Findings sit in the State Department for Foreign Affairs report for the year ending 30 June 2025.
Sh987,480 in a single month — that is what nine officers on foreign posting collected in stacked allowances even though mission rules already give them a Foreign Service Allowance on top of basic salary, the Auditor-General found, Eastleigh Voice reported.
The review of the State Department for Foreign Affairs for the year ending 30 June 2025 says the June 2025 payments covered responsibility, entertainment, non-practising, domestic, special legal and salary market adjustment allowances. Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu’s office treated the stack as contrary to the Administrative Rules Governing the Service of Kenya Missions.
What the rules allow — and what payroll did
Mission rules provide that an officer posted outside Kenya receives a monthly Foreign Service Allowance at prevailing rates in addition to basic salary, and they define when entertainment allowance may apply. The audit quote cited Section D.1 (1): officers at missions are paid Foreign Service Allowance plus basic pay — not an open buffet of domestic-style add-ons. Payroll, the report says, nonetheless continued extra allowances for nine officers on posting.
Kenya-news desk: Kenya News. Verified totals, month, allowance types and rule citation from Eastleigh Voice; individual officer names and recovery orders were not listed in the same summary.
Foreign Affairs and the National Treasury now face a recovery-or-explain file. Missions that treat Foreign Service Allowance as a floor for more home-payroll perks will keep drawing audit ink until circulars and payroll systems match the rulebook. Parliament’s watchdog committees can demand a schedule of recoveries and system fixes before the next financial-year audit cycle.
For taxpayers, the story is less about one June snapshot than about whether mission payrolls can still layer domestic-style allowances on top of a foreign service package that was meant to be the complete add-on.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of the Auditor-General’s Foreign Affairs findings (Lucy Mumbi). Full audit text controls official recommendations.
