4,000 Civil Servants Face Salary Blockade

About 4,000 civil servants will not be paid their salaries at the end of July this year as a result of non-compliance with laid down regulations governing secondments within the civil service. Already, the Head of Civil Service has issued a directive to all Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, giving all affected civil servants by the end of June this year, to normalize their appointments or face salary blockade and subsequently have their names deleted from the payroll.

Though the exact number is unknown, it is estimated that over 4000 (5%) of the 80,000 civil servants are currently on secondment. Records at the office of the Head of Civil Service indicate that some civil servants have been on secondment for over 18 years well exceeding the accepted maximum period of three years without proper authorization and without completing the relevant documentation. The unauthorized placements and distort records at the office of the Head of Civil Service in turn affect the accuracy of the government?s payroll and pension benefits.

Investigations by the Business and Financial Times newspaper has revealed that the unauthorized placements and secondments are arranged on individual basis instead of using laid down procedures. Apart from the unauthorized people on secondment, study leave (without pay), retirement or death personnel continue to have their names on the payroll for years