What of ghost workers on government payroll?

By Editor

 Claims of the discovery of ghost workers on the government payroll have reached a climax when the former President Jakaya Kikwete eleven months ago had  ordered a probe into “ghost workers” on the public sector payroll after a new audit revealed the government paid about $76.6m to fake ...
workers over the past year. “Where there is clear evidence, the ... divisive elements have no room in Tanzania,” he said.

 

 With the submission by the Controller and Audit General (CAG) that  phantom workers exist in the civil service it was appropriate for President John  Magufuli to adopt the ‘Boils’ Metaphor! As Dr Gastor Mapunda put it and I quote. “ We all know, boils constitute an illness in the human body. To be more precise, it is a skin infection which develops as a lump, which in turn turns into pus under the skin. Boils may develop singly or in groups. Boils are usually caused by a germ which enters the body through tiny scratches or cuts in the skin, and sometimes they can extend down to the hair follicle. Boils usually swell, but more importantly, they may spread to other parts of the body, and usually cause a fever. As such, boils must be treated, and the kind of treatment may depend on the seriousness of the infection”.

.While no one ever doubted that this was happening on account of shoddy book-keeping and corruption in the nation’s civil service, the number reportedly involved and the length of time for which this crime has gone on remains baffling. This is a shame that illustrates the tardiness with which government business is conducted.

 

It is therefore of paramount importance that investigation the ghost workers should be conducted, hand culprits over to relevant agencies of government for prosecution and recover from colluding banks in the scam, the money paid through such banks. This is the least Tanzanians can ask for.

 

Indeed, with all due diligences done, could there not be more than ghost workers? It would have been better if the government had concluded the investigations and confirmed the exact number of ghost workers. Therefore, the then ministry  responsible should be cautious in its assumptions until investigations throw up the realities of the claim.

 

On the plan to recover money from banks, this seems to suggest that only the banks were responsible for the scam. The truth is that the then  ministry’s officials sent list of employees to be paid and the amount covering such payments to those banks with which they may have colluded. 

 

Thus, in sharing any arising liability of refunding money, the weight of contribution should be considered and the liability may be shared equally between the then ministry and any affected bank. In the unlikely case that no bank is found culpable, the then ministry would then seem to be the sole cesspit of the scam. Whatever the case, whoever perpetrated the fraud must be sanctioned through the courts of law.

 

The civil service must also take full responsibility for any ghost worker on its payroll given its obvious incompetent, ineffective and slow registration of employees in biometric register. If the then  ministry had dutifully implemented the employee registration exercise, there would, perhaps, not have been ghost workers or, at least the number would have been insignificant. It is fair to bet that slow implementation of the Biometric Voters Registry ( BRV) was a form of sabotage to enable perpetrators of the ghost workers fraud continue their criminal act.