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Zimbabwean Government axes 6 000 ghost workers

GOVERNMENT has axed 6 000 ghost workers from its payroll, removing the remaining outstanding issue towards initiating a staff-monitored programme (SMP) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Report by Ndamu Sandu

In a report released after a recent executive board meeting on Zimbabwe, the IMF said most of the “red flags” that had been raised in the payroll and skills audit had been addressed.

“A report from the Public Service Commission (PSC) indicated that some 6 000 irregularly employed youth officers have been removed from the payroll,” said the report.

“Also, the PSC report affirmed that the bulk of the red flags raised in the Payroll and Skills Audit have been explained or addressed.”
An SMP is an informal and flexible instrument for dialogue between the IMF staff and a member country on its economic policies. Under SMP, the country’s targets and policies are monitored by the IMF staff.

Discussions towards an SMP had been held back by two issues — timely reporting of data and ghost workers.

However, the timely reporting of data was achieved last year.

The Public Service minister, Lucia Matibenga could not confirm or deny that the ghost workers had been axed last week.

Finance minister Tendai Biti could not be reached for comment as he was said to be out of the country.

The World Bank financed the Payroll and Skills audit that was undertaken by Ernst and Young (India) to flush out ghost workers.
Two reports were submitted in November 2010 and in July last year.
Most of the ghost workers were recruited just before the June 2008 presidential election run-off to campaign for President Robert Mugabe.

These included unqualified youth militias and war veterans deployed by government and were to draw salaries from Treasury.

Some of them were those whose names were listed on the payroll as receiving salaries, but did not exist or no longer worked for the concerned organisation.

Their payments and other benefits may have been captured by corrupt third parties.

Biti has in the past said the money paid to ghost workers was capable of changing the lives of the civil servants.

Early this year, MDC-T legislator for Mutare West, Shuah Mudiwa, told Parliament that at least US$25 million would be saved monthly if the ghost workers were removed from the government payroll.

The IMF said moving towards an SMP would require improving macro-economic policy management and making regular payments to the Poverty Reduction Growth Trust.

IMF helping Ghana clear ghost names from public payroll

The International Monetary Fund (FUND) – which is in talks with the Ghanaian Government for a financial programme – is helping the young oil producer to clear ghost names from its public payroll.

“The IMF team is working with the authorities, and is working with the authorities in several areas including issues related to concrete steps in cleaning up the government payroll…” Deputy Spokesman, Communications Department of the IMF William Murray, revealed at a news conference in Washington Thursday, December 11, 2014.

The Government has been spending about 70 percent of tax revenue in paying public sector workers. That figure was reduced by more than 10 percent recently, according to President John Mahama, after all outstanding payments and arrears relating to the migration of workers onto the single spine salary structure was dealt with.

In July this year, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) announced that it has deleted 3,179 ghost names from public payrolls in the Greater Accra region alone, between April and June.

Also in January this year, Deputy Minister in charge of tertiary education Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced that the government had deleted over 2,913 ghost names from the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) payrolls.

In November last year, 1,052 staff of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital could not be accounted for after a head count.

An additional 60 who were paid through the hospital’s internally generated funds (IGFs) could also not be accounted for.

Of the 1,052 members of staff, 490 belong to other institutions but worked under KBTH, while 84 were newly employed nurses at the hospital.

In March last year, about 1.3 per cent of Ghana’s GDP, translating into over Ghc1 billion, was paid to non-existent public sector employees or ghost workers in 2013, according to analysis done by Dr Joe Abbey, Executive Director of economic think tank Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA).

Dr Abbey said an average of Ghc100 million was paid to ghost employees every month in 2012.

“The question about ghost or ineligible workers dealt a decisive blow… our estimate was that as much as 1.3 percentage points of our GDP was being lost to these ghost payments and so a billion cedis was the estimate that we saw, like 100 million a month," Dr Abbey noted.

The 2013 budget reported a deficit of 12 percent of GDP.

The public wage bill for 2012 ballooned to 72.3 percent of tax revenue as a result of the implementation of the single spine salary (SSS) structure. It had earlier been estimated at 60.9 percent by the President in November 2012 in the State of the Nation address.

The wage bill constituted 2.7 percent of GDP of the 12.0 Deficit. It translated into 1.91 billion Ghana cedis.

Apart from the IMF helping Ghana to clean up its public sector payroll, the Fund said it is finalising remaining details of the country’s “medium-term reforms, and seeking external financing assurances from bilateral donors and international institutions,” before agreeing a final deal with the West African country about a financial package to assist the world’s largest cocoa producer fix its economy.

“Once this work is completed a financial arrangement to support Ghana's economic program could be agreed at staff level before being proposed for the IMF Executive Board's consideration. Right now, we are still working with Ghana in terms of nailing down details of policies that could be supported by the Fund and its Executive Board,” Murray said.

Economic analysts have raised fear Ghana could be declared highly indebted Poor Country, HIPC as a result of its public debt which currently stands at 70 billion dollars.

Uganda Government still stranded with ‘ghost’ workers

In Summary

Director Budget says another verification round has been requested for.

Kampala

The government is still stuck with about 2,000 ghost employees on its payroll, despite several attempts in recent months to clean the payment system.

And for that, the Auditor General has again been asked to verify the names of all the employees on the government payroll, this time with a warning to accounting officers that should any anomaly be discovered on their payment system they will be held personally responsible.

In an interview last week, Mr Kenneth Mugambe, the acting Director Budget, told the Daily Monitor that out of the 7,000 questionable names on the payroll, 5,000 have since been cleared, prompting the Ministry of Finance to ask the Auditor General to do another round of verification.

 “Out of 7,000 names that the Auditor General questioned, 5,000 of them have been reinstated on the payroll and only 2,000 are yet to be cleared,” Mr Mugambe said.

“We are now cleaning our payroll and we have asked the Auditor General to do person-by-person verification—a head count of sort, so that we can sort this out.”

Request sent
Speaking on the sideline of a dialogue organised by the Civil Society Advocacy Budget Group with the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mr Mugambe did not indicate when the verification will start although his boss, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the Secretary to the Treasury, last week said a request to that effect has already been made to the Auditor General.

Mr Muhakanizi said the 7,000 suspected ‘ghosts’ on the payroll were not budgeted for earlier, after a decision to cut them off the payroll was taken following a red flag raised by the Auditor General. Although most of them have since been paid, another verification has been requested after 2,000 names still appear suspicious.

In the wake of the teachers’ and police officers plight following the salary delays, Public Service State Minister Sezi Mbaguta said “a management crisis” in the government had caused a wage bill shortfall that affected thousands of civil servants.

 

iladu@ug.nationmedia.com

Kenya Civil servants who missed biometric registration struck off payroll

A civil servant goes through biometric registration in Nyeri on September 24, 2014. Over 12,500 names of government employees who failed to show up for the biometric registration will be removed from the payroll beginning November 2014. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

·        The government payroll stands at 172,522 employees but only 160,012 people turned up for the drive.

·        If it turns out that those who failed to register were ghost workers, then the government has been losing Sh600 million per month in paying salaries and allowances.

·        This also means that taxpayers have been losing up to Sh7.2 billion a year, a factor that has contributed to the ballooning wage bill.

·        The figure is higher than the Sh1.8 billion per year that President Uhuru Kenyatta said the government was losing when he launched an audit to weed out the ghost workers.

By NGARE KARIUKI
By SAMWEL BORN MAINA

Over 12,500 names of government employees will be struck off the payroll beginning November after they failed to show up for the biometric registration.

The government payroll stands at 172,522 employees, but according to Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, only 160,012 people turned up for the drive.

Consequently, if it turns out that those who failed to register were ghost workers, then the government has been losing Sh600 million per month in paying salaries and allowances.

This also means that taxpayers have been losing up to Sh7.2 billion a year, a factor that has contributed to the ballooning wage bill.

The figure is higher than the Sh1.8 billion per year that President Uhuru Kenyatta said the government was losing when he launched an audit to weed out the ghost workers at the beginning of the year.

While presenting preliminary findings of a report on the Capacity Assessment and Rationalisation of the Public Service (CARPS) programme carried out by the Inter-Governmental Steering Committee (IGSC), which she chairs, Ms Waiguru said workers who could not take part in the registration due to sickness or study leave were not included in the list of 12,510 missing persons.

STOP SALARIES

“In the wake of these developments, the steering committee has directed that both the national and county governments stop with immediate effect the salaries of the 12,510 who have failed to show up,” she said.

The report also revealed that about 300 officers were older than the official retirement age of 60.

Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairperson Margaret Kobia said the next step would be to establish who was responsible for the inclusion of the additional names so that proper legal action may be taken.

“We cannot ignore the possibility that some names may have been duplicated due to inter-departmental transfers and the devolution process.

“The complexity makes it necessary for the PSC to find out who should be held responsible,” she said.

She cited officers in the human resources departments as well as those manning payrolls in both levels of government as targets for the investigations.

“Those civil servants who allowed ghost workers to receive payment will be held accountable,” Prof Kobia said.

Nation.co.ke learnt that those involved in the networks may have been substituting names of dead or retired employees with those of their cronies, who received the money.

OUTDATED IT SYSTEM

They take advantage of the outdated IT system that has not kept pace with developments in modern finance to ensure theft of public money goes undetected.

However, Prof Kobia exuded confidence that with the modern ICT tools put in the payroll system, it will be impossible for anyone to sneak in ghost workers.

“The technology acquired by the government is very modern and with the details of all civil servants now captured in the biometric data, cases of ghost workers will now become a impossible,” she said.

Also attending the launch of the report at Harambee House in Nairobi was Transition Authority Chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi, Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) Chairperson Sarah Serem and Council of Governors's Human Resource and Social Welfare committee chairman James Ongwae.

Mr Ongwae said the analysis of the findings of the report will take longer than expected and that a conclusive report will be released in February 2015.

Ms Waiguru explained that some employees had different dates of birth in different documents and the rationalisation of these documents had made it necessary to extend the exercise.

On September 1, 2014, President Kenyatta launched the biometric registration drive targeting civil servants at both the national and county government levels.

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero also launched the exercise for Nairobi County on the same day, followed by other counties on September 22 and October 13.

The exercise, which ended on October 31, 2014, was carried out by the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) with the support of both the national and county governments.

Tanzania: Ghost Worker Scam Lands At PCCB

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By Bilham Kimati

NAMES of public servants accused of swindling the government of some 40bn/- each month by pocketing salaries of non-existent workers in addition to colluding with suppliers to inflate claims have been submitted to the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB).

Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Mwigulu Nchemba has exclusively informed the 'Daily News' that a long list had been submitted to the anti-corruption squad, closing the chapter of "business as usual".

"I have submitted to the PCCB and the police names of all suspects behind the sickening ghost workers rip-off. The chapter is closed for misappropriation of public funds with impunity.

The amount stolen could have saved many lives by purchasing essential medical supplies," the deputy minister observed. Last week, Mr Nchemba announced that over 40bn/- was paid to 14,000 fictitious workers, equivalent to 480bn/- annually.

He said the list is a long one while those implicated include officials in the payment sections, who allegedly collected salaries for non-existing workers in addition to colluding with dishonest suppliers to inflate claims.

"Meticulous verification revealed that out of 19bn/- allegedly outstanding teachers claims, only 5bn/- was genuine while the remaining 14bn/- found its way into individual pockets," the deputy minister quipped.

He pointed out that civil servants who are entrusted to serve in public offices should take the responsibility with dignity and humility.

"Those who think they could continue abusing office for personal gains will not be tolerated," Mr Nchemba vowed. He said appropriate disciplinary measures will be taken against all actors in the malpracticeAsked why it has taken so long to address the problem, which has met with widespread public resentment for many years, Mr Nchemba said the fraudulent acts persisted because of the late detection due to the fact that the corrupt had been tampering with or hiding the files.

"There are names of former public servants who have died, retired officers and those terminated or shifted to the private sector. Billions of shillings were siphoned off through manipulation of files for personal gain.

This is unacceptable and a lasting solution has to be found," he stressed. However, the deputy minister was categorical over the resolve by the government in support of the PCCB engagement.

"None of the swindlers will be spared. We (Finance ministry) have effectively communicated with the Civil Service Management Office (Utumishi) to take disciplinary measures against dishonest workers," he said. It was explained that zeros were added to figures with the intention to cheat on the genuine record of accounts.

For example, in some cases, 50m/- figure was twisted to read 500m/-. Measures taken by the Treasury to end persistent cheating in salary payment include introduction of a computerised salary payment system known as e-salary payroll. The system is designed to verify bank accounts of recipients to eliminate ghost workers' syndrome.

Interviewed personalities include Professor Solomon Metili from the Open University of Tanzania who commended the government for the bold decision taken to curtail the seemingly rampant misappropriation of taxpayers' money.

"This is outrageous. The amount stolen every month -- 40bn/- -- exceeded the annual development budget of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.

No wonder we see some of our neighbours flashing money like lottery winners at the expense of the toiling masses. Let the government keep it up," Prof Metili suggested. A lecturer from the College of Business Education (CBE) in Dar es Salaam, Mr Salum Abdulkarim, advised Tanzanians to abandon the culture of looking at corrupt elements as heroes.

Nigeria: FG Uncovers 60,000 Ghost Workers

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, says Nigeria is not broke. Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who was responding to questions from journalists in ... ( Resource: Nigeria Is Not Broke, Says Okonjo-Iweala

By NSE Anthony-Uko

The federal government has uncovered a total of 60,000 ghost workers in federal establishments across the country following the staff audit of the federal government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) on the implementation of the integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

The current number indicates a 20 cent increase over the 50,000 earlier announced, the coordinating minister for the economy (CME) and minister of finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed yesterday.

Okonjo-Iweala, who disclosed this yesterday while briefing newsmen on performance of the ministry in the last one year, added that the discovery had saved government over N160 billion, which was amount paid to them as salaries and allowances.

She, however, said that the case had been transferred to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) for prosecution of those involved.

"Last year, 60,000 ghost workers were weeded out, which saved government about N170 billion. The ministry wrote to ICPC to trace those that needed to be held accountable and we are ready to assist ICPC on any issue that borders on transparency."

The lead director, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, lamented that since 2013 when the discovery of ghost workers was first made, no credible step had been taken to recover the money and expose and punish the perpetrators.

"Government's refusal to take steps to recover the money is an endorsement of corruption, a manifestation of impunity which encourages intending looters to seek to perfect their crime," he said.

The CSJ had invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to access the details of the accounting officers and others who presided over the payment of salaries to the ghost workers, request Okonjo-Iweala allegedly declined.

The group had, in a suit, approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to get the details of the MDAs' accounts and officers who presided over the colossal looting of the treasury.

Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala also unveiled part of the federal government's contingency plan aimed at shielding the economy against the steep fall in oil price at the international market by raising revenue targets of the key non-oil revenue agencies for the next fiscal year .

According to her, the plan would see an increase in the revenue target for both the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service, but she did not disclose the exact revenue targets given to the agencies.

The finance minister, however, who disclosed that FIRS had realised N44 billion out of its N75 billion target while Customs said it had realised N713 billion (between January and September) out of its N1.23 trillion target.

"We must shift the economy to non-oil revenue and we are already working hard on non-oil. Our revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio is below that of other countries. We need to work very hard on non-oil sector and deliver on it.

"The global economy is volatile; oil prices are falling and, as a matter of priority, we are developing a contingency plan to bring stability to the economy," she said.

On the macro economy, Okonjo-Iweala said the economy had enjoyed a good measure of stability as key indices such as inflation, exchange rate and other instruments have been stable, a development she said has allowed investors to plan.

Millions in S. Africa paid to 'ghosts'

Penwell Dlamini |

Nkomfe's spokesman, John Sukazi, said the provincial treasury needed to know the people being paid, their duties, and whether the employees were hired in line with the structures of the department. File photo
Image by: Foto24 / Lerato Maduna / Gallo Images

An internal audit in the Gauteng Department of Health has resulted in 143 "ghost" employees being removed from the payroll, saving the province more than R1.2-million.

 

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