Africa-Press – Liberia. At the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Joekai said a significant portion of the workforce, represented by 69 individuals, could not be properly accounted for, strongly suggesting the presence of ghost employees.
Civil Service Agency Director General, Josiah Joekai, has disclosed that the agency has uncovered wanton disparities and other fraudulent activities at various government spending entities.
Speaking at MICAT regular press briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Joekai noted that these disparities have led to an alarming average monthly wage expenditure of US$23,543,874.64.
According to the CSA boss, the situation caused the past administration to have spent US$ 6.1 million in the last fiscal year alone on consulting services.
At the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Joekai said a significant portion of the workforce, represented by 69 individuals, could not be properly accounted for, strongly suggesting the presence of ghost employees.
“At the Liberia National Police, 98 employees remained untraceable, raising suspicions of fictitious personnel on the payroll,” he further disclosed.
Joekai noted that regular internal controls audits and assessments conducted by the Internal Audit Agency consistently unveil numerous detrimental issues persistently undermining the integrity and efficiency of the civil service.
He named these critical issues as payments to individuals or personnel for services not rendered, indicating instances of fraudulent payments, payments issued to ghost employees, resulting in substantial financial losses due to fraud, wastage, and misappropriation of funds, which he said violate of chapter 7/Section 2.5 of the Standing Orders of 2012 by paying full salaries to employees on study leaves.
The audit also discovered unauthorized absences from official duties, with illegitimate or no excuses provided to cover up these instances, continued payment of salaries to employees who have left their positions due to resignation, dismissal, redundancy, or death highlights as serious flaws in payroll management and public finance accountability.
Mr. Joekai stated that the revelation of these disparities underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to rectify these egregious discrepancies and prevent further misuse of public funds.
According to him, such reforms are imperative to restore our civil service’s efficiency, responsiveness, and integrity and ensure accountability and transparency.
As part of the reform drive, Joekai told the public that the Civil Service Agency (CSA) has taken decisive action by requesting the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to examine payroll compliance across all 103 spending entities forensically.
The audit, which will cover the period January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023, will provide vital insights into the extent of financial mismanagement and irregularities within the system.
“The government fully supports this critical national initiative and is committed to providing the necessary resources to facilitate the CSA and GAC’s effective execution of this audit. Additionally, the Honorable Liberian Senate and House of Representatives are expected to offer unwavering support for auditing their respective central administrations’ payrolls. Given their vested interest in addressing the reported human resource management and financial malpractices that have plagued our civil service, their cooperation is essential in ensuring the success of these reforms,” Joekai noted.
He disclosed that several individuals were placed on the payroll through emails, matrices, and phone calls over the past six years.
“Consequently, the CSA is thoroughly reviewing the payroll and incomplete personnel action notices of the individuals concerned for further action,” he noted.
Mr. Joekai said he was confident that with these strategic reform measures in place for the immediate term, the government will achieve significant cost savings and optimize the value derived from sanitizing the payroll and consultancy engagements, ultimately ensuring that taxpayers’ money is utilized judiciously and effectively.
He said the CSA remains steadfast in its commitment to these immediate reform processes to foster a more accountable, efficient, and productive civil service for all Liberians.
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