Nairobi County is bleeding money, not from investing in roads, schools, or hospitals, but from paying an army of bloated staff who exist more on paper than in service. The Auditor-General’s revelation that the wage bill jumped from Sh6 billion to Sh17.3 billion is not just a statistic — it’s a confession of theft.

When staff numbers rise from 5,777 to 16,321 in a few years, it is not a sign of expansion. It is a cartel feeding frenzy, where jobs are created not to serve the public but to reward cronies, girlfriends, relatives, and political brokers. Nairobi has been turned into a human cash machine for politicians and their allies.

Residents are taxed mercilessly, parking fees are hiked, licenses are strangling businesses, and yet every coin is swallowed by salaries for people who barely show up to work. The streets still stink with uncollected garbage, the drainage remains clogged, and hospitals cry for medicine while the payroll fattens like a parasite.

The tragedy is that this wage bill kills development. Money that should build markets for mama mboga, pave roads in estates, or provide water in slums has been hijacked to pay ghost workers who only exist on Excel sheets signed off by county bosses. This is daylight robbery dressed as governance.

It is absurd that Nairobi, the economic heart of Kenya, cannot manage a functioning health system, yet spends billions to maintain political loyalty through employment rackets. Instead of hiring doctors, nurses, engineers, and urban planners, the county hires cousins, mistresses, and campaign agents.

The Auditor-General’s report is more than an audit; it is an indictment. It proves Nairobi’s leadership has no intention to develop the city, but every intention to loot. It shows how politics has replaced planning and how corruption has replaced competence.

Even the Constitution is being violated. Article 201 demands prudent use of public resources, yet Nairobi’s budget is consumed by salaries, leaving development a starving orphan. The Public Finance Management Act is mocked because fiscal discipline is sacrificed at the altar of patronage.

If this were the private sector, heads would roll. But in government, those responsible are rewarded with promotions, tenders, and protection. The law has been weaponized to defend theft instead of prosecuting it. Nairobi has become a classic case of how corruption kills cities.

When the wage bill consumes nearly everything, residents pay twice. First, through taxes that fund salaries. Second, by buying services that the government should provide. Water is privatized, garbage is outsourced, and healthcare is commercialized, while public money feeds the cartel of employees.

This is not incompetence — it is deliberate policy. By swelling staff numbers, county leaders create a loyal base of voters who will defend their theft during elections. Corruption has become Nairobi’s political strategy, a way to buy silence and manufacture consent.

The Auditor-General’s figures prove that Nairobi is under state capture. When a city of millions has its budget hijacked by salaries, it is proof that the county leadership is governing for themselves, not for the people. Nairobians are paying for a government that works against them.

Development has become a mirage. Roads in Eastlands are in disrepair, clinics in Mukuru lack basic medications, schools in Kayole are overcrowded, yet billions are spent on inflated payrolls. The link between looting and suffering is clear, but the leaders pretend development is “ongoing.”

This rot exposes why Nairobi cannot attract serious investment. Who will trust a city where money vanishes into ghost jobs? Investors see a dysfunctional system where public money builds nothing, and they flee. The wage bill has become a warning sign to the world: Nairobi is run by thieves.

The leadership calls this employment. But in truth, it is legalized corruption. Hiring thousands of unnecessary staff is not governance — it is looting disguised as administration. The Auditor-General’s revelations demand accountability, not excuses.

This is the same script played across counties, but Nairobi is the flagship. If the capital is this rotten, what of the rest? Nairobi sets the tone, and its rot drips across the country, normalizing theft as governance. The wage bill is a mirror of national decay.

The Auditor-General must go beyond reporting and name names. Nairobians deserve to know who padded the payroll, who signed off on ghost workers, and who pocketed the billions. Without prosecutions, this report is just paper while the looting continues.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission must stop chasing small bribes on the streets and focus on the big thieves in City Hall. The Auditor-General has handed them evidence; what remains is the courage to act. Nairobi cannot survive if the thieves keep walking free.

Nairobians must demand answers. Who were these 10,000+ extra staff? Where do they work? What services have they improved? Until such questions are answered, the wage bill is nothing but a looting scandal written in numbers.

The looting in Nairobi County is not random — it is structured, deliberate, and shameless. The wage bill scandal is proof that leadership here is not about service but about theft. Nairobians must rise and demand accountability, because silence is the soil where corruption thrives.