Blocking of Salaries of GoL Employees Found on Double or Multiple Payrolls

Monrovia, Liberia - The Interagency Payroll Clean-up Taskforce, with immediate effect, has blocked the salary payment of 998 employees, who have been identified as double or multiple payroll dippers across various agencies under the central government. The estimated savings from the blocking of these employees is US$2.2million (Two Million United States Dollars).

According to the Interagency Payroll Cleanup Taskforce, which was set up by the President, H.E. George Manneh Weah, early this year, these double or multiple dippers were discovered primarily through the enforcement of the use of the National Biometric Identification Cards (NIR Cards) as the major identifier for all government employees on the public payroll. Employees caught on double or multiple payrolls include teachers, health workers of various cadre, security personnel, professors, and other civil servants at various levels of the system. The listings of the double and multiple dippers are being sent to their respective agencies for the necessary adjustments in their various personnel listings, removing the multiple dippers.

The Taskforce, since its establishment over the past five months, has taken intentional and strategic steps to reduce the public wage bill by removing ghost workers, double and multiple payroll dippers, restricting new hiring, and enforcing retirement legitimately across central government, with limited but strategic replacements. The Taskforce, therefore, expresses its thanks and appreciation to its members, especially the National Identification Registry, Ministry of Finance and Development, and Civil Service Agency for enforcing the National Biometric enrollment across government, and the Internal Audit Agency for identifying “ghosts” and other cheats on the payroll through physical employee audits. The Taskforce also wants to thank the staff of spending entities who provided intelligence that accelerated the discovery and removal of the multiple payroll dippers.

The Taskforce is recommending to the Government of Liberia utilization of US$750,000 of the savings towards pay increment for health workers especially nurses who are earning as low as US$125 per month, and teachers especially BSc teachers who are actively working and earning as low as US$95.00, amounts that are far lower than their standardized pay from harmonization exercise.

In an effort to boost the efforts of the Taskforce, which can potentially lead to more discoveries of ghosts and multiple payroll dippers, we are also recommending to Government the provision of financial rewards, in one form or another, such as a promotion or pay increment for staffs who will provide information or intelligence on suspected ghosts or fraudulent payroll activities. The reward which is expected to be sourced from the ghost or payroll fraud will be pay increment, especially for employees who are earning far below their standardized pay grade from the harmonization exercise.

Meanwhile, the Inter-agency Payroll Clean-Up Taskforce will be appearing at a regular MICAT Press Briefing soon to provide details of its report to the Press and the General Public.

God bless Liberia and safe the state.