The Ministry of Public Service has deactivated 4,149 employees across various ministries, entities and local governments from the government payroll.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service Catherine Bitarakwate, in a circular said that this action follows a second round of validation and headcount exercises conducted from March 11 to June 28, 2024, as recommended by the Office of the Auditor General.
In an ongoing effort to streamline the public service payroll, the Ministry on March 11 flagged off the verification exercise to ascertain the authenticity of the employment status of over 10,000 government employees.
This followed the validation exercise carried out by the auditor general, which established that the government was paying over Sh53 billion annually to ghost employees.
The office of the auditor general in May 2023 undertook a special audit of the salary payroll across all government employees in 367 entities comprising 162 ministries, departments and agencies, 179 local governments and 29 other government organizations in February 2023.
The auditor general’s reports unearthed ghost employees in government entities earning salaries and all other privileges, costing the government billions of shillings.
The auditor general said in the report, that 10,192 government employees, were still on the government payroll having been confirmed either dead, absconded or retired by the time of the validation exercise.
Bitarakwate said in the circular issued recently, that the validation report was submitted to Cabinet, and under Minute No. 347 (CT 2024), a Sub-Committee was appointed to refine the Ministry’s recommendations and provide feedback.
“On January 9, 2025, the Committee convened and directed the deactivation of the identified public servants’ records from the payroll. An estimated sh2.51 billion will be saved monthly from this payroll cleanup,” she said.
According to the circular, out of the total of 4,149 employees deactivated from the government payroll, 2,967 failed to attend the second round of the validation exercise, 557 were found to have continued to receive salaries after retirement or resignation, 368 were confirmed to have absconded but remained on the payroll, 242 were deceased officers whose records were still active, and 15 were suspected to be ghost workers.
She said sh1.5 billion was being channeled to employees who missed the validation exercise, retired or resigned employees accounted for sh538.3 million, absconders continued to draw sh291.8 million, deceased officers account for sh215.6 million, while suspected ghost workers accounted for sh9.2 million, monthly.
“These savings underscore the financial burden of maintaining an inaccurate payroll system and highlight the importance of this cleanup initiative. All individuals mentioned above have been removed from the January 2025 payroll,” Bitarakwate stated.
She advised that in the event that any deactivated officer is eligible for reactivation, the relevant accounting officers should report to the Ministry of Public Service with a clearance letter personally signed by the responsible officer.
The clearance letter, she insisted, must be individual and not shared, accompanied by original academic and professional documents, original appointment and confirmation letters, original National Identity Card and employer Identity Card, pay slips for December 2024 and January 2025, as well as certified minutes of appointment. She said the only opportunity for this validation would be from January 20 to February 7, 2025.
The Minister of Stat for Pubic Service Mary Mugasa had earlier intimated that as many as 7000 names could be struck off the payroll, if cabinet adopts the report.
However, Bitarakwate noted that some of the cases were to be investigated further, leading to the adjustments reflected in the latest review.
During the validation exercise the auditor general found that 2,067 employees were being paid Sh22.4b annually yet their documents were not satisfactory while 6,307 employees were paid Sh23.6b irregularly as they were confirmed to be either dead, absconded or retired at the time of the exercise.
The auditor general’s report indicated that another 1,818 individuals paid Sh560m for the month of February 2023 were nonexistent, while 7,744 whose names were not on the base payroll appeared for validation exercise and presented all pre requisite documents and were recommended to be included on the validated payroll.
The Ministry of Public Service in March 2024, undertook to conduct a verification exercise for public officers in Ministries, departments, agencies, and local governments who remained unverified or partially verified during the special audit of the payroll by the Office of the Auditor General.
The affected public officers were required to bring along several documents, including an introductory letter signed by the responsible officer, a valid employee identity card, original and photocopy of the national identity card, and original and photocopies of academic and professional certificates.
They were also required to submit original and photocopies of appointment/promotion letters, original and photocopy of the confirmation letter, original and photocopy of the current deployment letter, and pay slip for December 2023 and January 2024, signed by the responsible officer.
The Ministry of Public Service warned that any public officer who remains unverified by the deadline of May 17, 2024, would be permanently removed from the payroll.
President Yoweri Museveni has expressed concern over the alarming level of corruption that is eating up the public service in the country.
Museveni at a recent function in State House Entebbe, emphasized that the country was counting on Auditor General Edward Akol and his team in the office of the Auditor General to detect and eradicate corruption that threatens the economic development of Uganda.
The President also directed the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), to arrest and prosecute all government officials linked to ghost civil servants on the payroll.
The Ministry of Public Service has also requested the Inspectorate of Government and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate cases of ghost workers and irregularly employed individuals earning illegal salaries.