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By Buba Gagigo
The Personnel Management Office (PMO) has announced the results of a recent staff audit conducted across the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education, Health, and Agriculture, resulting in the suspension of salaries for more than 3,000 individuals identified as “ghost workers.”
In a public statement, the PMO explained, “The general public is hereby informed that, as part of a routine exercise of the Personnel Management Office, a staff audit has recently been conducted with the main objective of cleaning up the Government payroll of absentee workers, otherwise known as “ghost workers”. The incidence of “ghost workers” has been a perennial problem in the public service, and it normally occurs when public servants unceremoniously leave their jobs,” said the PMO.
The PMO reported that the audit revealed over 3,000 civil servants who could not be physically verified by audit teams visiting schools, health facilities, and agricultural offices nationwide.
“A list of “unseen staff” was generated and shared with the respective Ministries for their reviews and comments. For those staff in respect of whom some comments were received about their whereabouts, their status were verified and confirmed as seen. 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 reactions were received on behalf of their staff in question, they would have their salaries stopped for the month of September. This was what led to the stoppage of the salaries of, 3024 civil servants for the month of September,” the PMO stated.
The PMO added that individuals who reappear after their salaries have been suspended will be required to provide proof of their status as active civil servants, such as attestations from their supervisors, proof of attendance, maternity leave, or sick leave, to have their salaries reinstated.
“It is not uncommon to hear civil servants say they were sick and were undergoing some traditional treatments, or to find them enrolling themselves in educational institutions without adhering to due process of obtaining study leave. As an update, after two weeks of salary stoppage and as at 9th October 2024, only 882 have so far been verified and confirmed as regular civil servants out of 3,024 salaries that have been stopped, meaning there is an outstanding number of over 2,142 civil servants yet to be accounted for. The PMO will be conducting similar exercises to cover the rest of the Civil Service, including the Security Forces as well as the pensioners shortly,” the statement continued.
Additionally, the PMO announced that the Ministry of Public Service is working on digitization strategies, including the installation of biometric time attendance systems linked to the payroll.
“This will ensure that the system will automatically stop a civil servant’s salary if he or she does not clock-in for more than one month, unless some explanation is provided to restore your salary. Civil servants are advised that when they intend to stay away from work due to ill-health, maternity, further studies or even resignation, they should abide by the existing procedures in accordance with the General Orders and PSC Regulations,” the PMO concluded.