The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has said that all the 7744 government employees that had been faulted as ghost workers will be included on the payroll, as it has been established that they just lack the required documents to confirm their jobs.
According to Edward Akol, the assistant auditor general, due to their status, they could not be declared public servants. He added that the OAG has communicated to the Ministry of Public Service and all concerned entities to urgently configure their payroll systems so that the individuals are confirmed.
“Take, for instance, that there were four persons whose names were not on the payroll in February 2024 but later turned up with all the required records that we needed, and we confirmed that they are indeed genuine government employees; this would have legal consequences, so those should be included on the payroll,” Akol said.
Akol, however, called upon the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to expedite their investigations into the ghost workers on the government payroll stating that it has cost the state a lot of money.He noted that there are scenarios whereby some of the potential evidence to prosecute these individuals eventually disappears due to delays in taking action.
“There is a need to quicken the process of intervention so that all personal files of confirmed ghost workers are extracted,” said Akol.
According to Akol, the delay in investigations has resulted in the loss of Ugx 53 billion as a result of paying out over 10,192 ghost workers.
