1663 officers disciplined in connection with ghost workers

THE government has taken disciplinary measures against some 1663 in connection with 19,629 ghost workers that were siphoning over Sh 19.7 bn/- per month, the parliament heard yesterday. Minister of State in the President's Office-Public Service Management and Good Governance, Angellah Kairuki, told legislators here that there are those who have cases in court, required to pay fine and refund the money lost through ghost workers under them. 

She explained that some 16 of them were from various ministries, nine from various government departments and agencies while other six were from regional secretariat as local government authorities had the ‘lion share’ of 1,632 officers.

“The disciplinary measures include reporting their cases to different security agents whereby by 25 October, 2016 some 638 had cases under police, 50 under PCCB investigations while 975 reported to their respective ethics bodies” she told the parliament.

The minister was responding to a question by Special Seats MP, Maida Hamad Abdallah (CCM) who had wanted to know actions taken by the government on those who were responsible for ghost workers.

“Ghost workers have derailed development by causing loss of billions of money, what is the government doing on those who led to this loss?” she questioned.

Minister Kairuki explained that the government would continue with the excise to purge ghost workers from its payroll through the Human Capital Management Information System (HCMIS).

While she could not easily state how much loss the ghost workers caused, the minister pointed out two municipal authorities as examples.

She noted that Kinondoni municipal council in Dar es Salaam with 107 ghost workers incurred a total of Sh 1.2 bn/- loss and Kishapu district council with 73 ghost workers lost Sh 43 mn/-.

“From the two councils one can easily tell the magnitude of the problem of ghost workers” she said, adding that total monthly cost to the government stood at Sh 19.7 bn/- per month.

The government launched a national audit to find "ghost workers" and remove them from civil service payrolls under a corruption crackdown ordered by the president John Magufuli early this year.

The public sector wage bill has escalated sharply over the past few years, analysts say, partly because of the numbers of people registering fake names to collect extra wages. A 2015 audit found the government had paid 141.4 bn/-to fake workers over that year