Public-Payroll Arrears Recovery Leader

The mandate

Employees report unpaid basic wages, acting allowances, rural deployment premiums and progression adjustments after appointments and transfers moved faster than payroll and funding approvals. Regional records include paper attendance and local authorisations that headquarters cannot consistently verify, while some claims combine legitimate arrears with disputed grade or role entitlement. The payroll director was suspended after audit findings. The agency needs executive recovery that pays verified workers promptly without allowing urgency to bypass public-money controls.

The first twenty-five days require a claimant-and-period census covering appointment, grade, location, attendance, funding source, pay element, approval, amount, dispute and worker hardship. By day sixty, each cohort needs an evidence standard and reconciliation from authorised service through gross entitlement, statutory deduction, prior payment and net arrear. The ninety-day window must stop new arrears, pay the oldest verified cases under approved funding and protect workers from retaliation for raising claims.

Decision rights include assigning case review, approving reconciled arrears within delegated policy, stopping unsupported claim batches, requiring event updates and escalating funding or authority gaps. The interim may prioritise verified hardship cases using transparent criteria. Grade determination, appointment validity, collective-agreement interpretation, fraud findings, budget appropriation, tax rulings and waiver of public controls remain with authorised public bodies, counsel, unions and audit authorities.

The assignment must leave regional and central payroll operating one evidence chain. The leader will appoint or prepare a permanent payroll assurance head, establish appointment-to-pay service levels and observe the successor lead two payrolls plus a regional arrears clinic. Handover will identify disputed service, missing attendance, funding dependencies, deceased estates, tax corrections, union undertakings, audit referrals and cases whose entitlement requires external adjudication.

The remit excludes creating appointments, altering grades, fabricating attendance, legal advice, union adjudication, disciplinary findings and payment outside appropriated authority. The leader cannot require workers to waive claims, favour politically connected cohorts, net unrelated alleged debts without authority or treat missing central data as proof that no service occurred. Public service commissions, treasury, unions, courts and auditors retain their powers.

Why this seat is open

The suspension left payroll without trusted leadership while regional claims and worker hardship continued accumulating. HR sees appointments, depots see service and finance sees approved funding, but none owns the complete entitlement trail. A fixed-term recovery executive can verify and pay lawful arrears, repair event control and transfer accountable operations without determining public appointments.

What you will own

• Build the claim census across worker, service period, appointment, grade, location, attendance, pay element, funding and hardship.
• Establish evidence standards for paper and digital records, regional authorisations, acting service, transfer and progression.
• Reconcile gross entitlement, statutory deductions, prior payments, net arrears, interest or remedy dependencies and ledger entries.
• Prioritise verified payments using age, hardship, critical service and funding readiness through transparent published criteria.
• Create protected clinics, worker updates, dispute routes, representation access and non-retaliation monitoring across regions.
• Stop recurrence through appointment, transfer, grade, attendance, funding and payroll event ownership with service-level controls.
• Transfer case registers, funding schedules, audit referrals, unresolved entitlements and observed payroll cycles to the successor.

Candidate qualifications

• Has led payroll arrears or wage-remedy recovery in a large public, unionised or geographically distributed workforce.
• Understands appointments, grades, acting service, allowances, attendance, statutory deductions, appropriations and public audit.
• Can assess imperfect regional evidence without either abandoning workers or weakening public-money control.
• Has implemented transparent cohort prioritisation and worker communications during constrained funding and severe hardship.
• Brings credible coordination with treasury, public HR, unions, legal, regional management and audit authorities.
• Has handed a recovered arrears portfolio through live payroll and regional claim-review cycles.

Non-negotiables

• Can work onsite in Nairobi and attend weekly arrears clinics plus monthly union and treasury reviews.
• Brings direct public payroll recovery; general payroll implementation or claims administration alone is insufficient.
• Will not fabricate service, favour connected groups, coerce waivers or pay outside authorised public funding.
• Has no undisclosed relationship with claim agents, payroll vendors, unions, officials or audit contractors.

1. 49 words maximum. How would you test a wage-arrears claim supported only by regional paper records?
2. 49 words maximum. Which criterion should prioritise verified cases when funding cannot clear every cohort?
3. 49 words maximum. What must a successor demonstrate during a regional arrears clinic?