The National Payroll Clean up Taskforce says only public sector employees will be get salaries paid, in a new measure that is expected to tighten the screws on payroll paddling.
The Taskforce comprising the Civil Service Agency (CSA), Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP), Internal Audit Agency (IAA) and the National identification Registry (NIR) institutionalized the use of national identification number as the primary and sole biometric identity of government employees and a precondition for salary payment.
Removing ghost employees from the already crowded public sector payroll has always been a tough nut to crack..
According to a statement from the Taskforce, the Civil Service Agency & the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning have been granted full access to the electronic verification platform of the national ID system, following the signing of an MOU.
“This is a major development that will enable the CSA and the MFDP to gain direct access to the NIR database for the purpose of authenticating the identity of civil servants. Up to today, the E-verification platform has been used to verify the national ID of over more than fifty thousand government employees”, Acting Director General of the Civil Service Agency (CSA) James A. Thompson stressed at the signing of the marking the signing of the MOU.
“When the budget ensures that roads and hospitals are built, then the citizens get the sense that their budget is working for them. They will now believe they’re benefiting. But a huge payroll will not get these things done,” says Tiah Nagbe, Executive Director, National Identification Registry said.
The taskforce has automated the system for retirement and pension of over age and inactive government workers as an additional measure.
The release adds that unlike other reform processes, the strategy initiated by the Taskforce is providing provides a catalyst for payroll reform efforts.
The statement also said that this is a view espoused by the Executive Director of the Liberia Macroeconomic Policy Analysis (Center LIMPAC), Del Francis Wreh,