Joint Press Release: Special Compliance Audit of the GoL Payroll

Monrovia, Liberia January 30^, 2023. The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and the Civil Service Agency (CSA), is pleased to announce the completion and release of the Special Compliance Audit of the Central Government Payroll by the General Auditing Commission, covering the period 2019-2021. The Government of Liberia extends its appreciation to the World Bank for financing the special compliance audit of the payroll and to the GAC, for successfully executing it.

As the National Wage Reform Taskforce continues to implement various reforms in addressing the critical problems with the Payroll, the MFDP and the CSA take in good faith the audit findings and challenges, and are also pleased with the recommendations of the Auditor General to improve the credibility of the payroll - something that is important in ensuring transparency, accountability, and value for money within GoL workforce. We must also note, with a sense of accomplishment, that through the work the Government has done since 2019 in pay and payroll reforms, an audit of the payroll of the central government has now become possible.

Highlights of the Audit findings and challenges include: double dipping, ghost workers, under payments of a portion of government employees, single bank account assigned to two or multiple employees, no or incomplete pay grade to some employees, incomplete employment  information for huge percentage of government employees, large percentage of unverified government employees through the physical headcount done by GAC, GoL delays to remit its 6% employer’s contribution to the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation, among other concerns.

The MFDP and the CSA wish to state emphatically that these findings and challenges were also identified during the start of the payroll reforms in 2019 through the National Wage Reform Taskforce, and are being constantly and incrementally addressed and corrected. Today, through the Work of the National Wage Reform Taskforce, the MFDP and the CSA have fully consolidated and automated the GoL payroll, making it easily auditable, enforced biometric identification for employees before salary disbursements, eliminated bulk check payments while enforcing direct deposits for all employees. The MFDP and CSA have also instituted an automated pay-slip platform, automatically  link the payroll system to the pension system at NASSCORP, fully remitted the employee 4% social security contribution to NASSCORP, among other improvements. This audit report will assist in providing more direction and depth to the issues around which we should work to get us closer to our objectives for undertaking the pay reforms.

In further addressing and correcting the challenges on the payroll raised by the Auditor General, the MFDP and CSA have reinforced the mandate and responsibilities of the National Wage Reform Taskforce to expeditiously  implement and enforce all recommendations of the Auditor General to ensure a fair and transparent payroll.

The MFDP and CSA therefore encourage all media institutions or journalists wanting to report on the audit to fully read  and comprehend the audit’s findings and recommendations and management’s responses to the findings. Full comprehension will aid them in accurately reporting on the audit  and avoid distorting and unfairly reporting the outcomes of the audit.

Signed: