Government set to float back civil service jobs

DAILY NEWS Reporter

Minister of State in the President’s Office - Public Service Management and Good Governance - Ms Angela Kairuki

THE government is scheduled to float back civil service jobs that were frozen in mid-June this year owing to the countrywide campaign against phantom workers.

Minister of State President's Office (Public Service Management and Good Governance) Ms Angellah Kairuki announced that the plan now awaits an evaluation report of the exercise, which will be submitted to the president later next month.

"We're currently compiling the report regarding the exercise to check against ghost workers employed by central and local government authorities.

The report will be submitted to the president before we resume new recruitments and promotion of civil servants," Ms Kairuki noted during a live telecast aired by state broadcaster, TBC, on Sunday.

Before the decision to freeze civil servants employments, President John Magufuli announced in May that the number of ghost workers already struck from the state payroll system had reached 10, 295 saving the government 11.6 billion/- a month or 139.23bn/- per year.

Latest figures released by the minister showed the number of phantom workers, which were eliminated from the payroll as of August 20 this year, reached 16,127, saving 16bn/-.

Further details shows that the government has also managed to retrieve 14bn/- this month, nabbing about 840 recruitment officers from both local and central government authorities.

"This is not a mere joke. We're very determined and all those who will be implicated to have facilitated the rot will be arraigned in courts of law for necessary legal action," the minister stressed.

Ms Kairuki outlined that some officials have been lined-up for questioning at the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) as 12 more officials will be taken to court any time this month.

The Public Services Management and Good Governance Minister seized the opportunity to assure the general public that the 71,459 new posts announced by the government for the financial year 2016/17 were intact.

"You got to be a little patient. We're now strengthening up the public service employment system to avoid such anomalies," Ms Kairuki stressed.

The government had announced that it was finalising the process to adopt Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) that will force state departments to sign performance assurance contracts other than those that have been signed by employees.

OPRAS is an open, formal and systematic procedure designed to assist both employers and employees in planning, managing, evaluating and realising performance improvement in the organisations with the aim of achieving the intended corporate goals.

But according to the minister, the same system will now be applied to specific institutions and should an institution underperform; the heads of the department will be sacked.

"We have completed all the arrangements and this plan will start next financial year," she added.