By: Mama A. Touray
In its objective to clean up the government payroll of absentee workers, otherwise known as “ghost workers”—employees who unceremoniously leave their jobs—a problem that has been a perennial issue in the public service, the Personnel Management Office (PMO), as part of its routine exercise, conducted a staff audit at the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education, Health, and Agriculture.
A release shared by the Ministry of Information stated, “At the end of the said audit, over 3,000 civil servants could not be physically identified by the audit teams that visited every school, health facility, and agricultural office/station around the country.”
The release further noted that a list of “unseen staff” was generated and shared with the respective ministries for their reviews and comments. Some responses were received regarding the whereabouts of these staff, and their statuses were verified and confirmed.
The release continued: “It was after all this that a final list of ‘unseen staff’ was generated and shared with the respective ministries, informing them that if no further responses were received regarding their staff in question, their salaries would be stopped for the month of September. This led to the stoppage of the salaries of 3,024 civil servants for the month of September.”
As part of the process, the release detailed that those who come forward after their salaries are stopped must provide attestation from their heads of institutions, proof of attendance, or documentation for maternity leave or sick leave. Without this, their salaries will not be reinstated.
“After two weeks of salary stoppage, as of 9th October 2024, only 882 have so far been verified and confirmed as regular civil servants out of the 3,024 whose salaries were stopped, leaving an outstanding number of over 2,142 civil servants yet to be accounted for.”
The Personnel Management Office will conduct similar exercises to cover the rest of the Civil Service, including the Security Forces and pensioners.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Service has announced digitization strategies, including the installation of biometric time attendance machines linked to the payroll system. According to the ministry, this system will automatically stop a civil servant’s salary if they do not clock in for more than one month, unless an explanation is provided to restore their salary.
The ministry also advised civil servants who intend to stay away from work due to ill health, maternity, further studies, or resignation to abide by the existing procedures in accordance with the General Orders and PSC Regulations.
