By: Fatou Krubally
The National Assembly has heard fresh details about a massive payroll scandal that has exposed how more than D24 million was paid to civil servants who could not be physically verified during the government’s 2024 staff audit.
The Minister for Public Service, Administrative Reform, Policy Coordination and Delivery Hon. Baboucarr Bouye told lawmakers on Wednesday that about 1,430 ghost workers were detected across key sectors, including the Ministries of Basic Education, Health, Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security.
Payments to these unverified staff, channeled through 16 financial institutions, totalled D23.9 million, but only about D2 million has so far been recovered. The rest is feared lost, as most funds were withdrawn before the government froze the affected accounts.
Officials are now turning to the courts to force banks to refund the remaining money. Some banks argue they need customer consent or a court order to release any funds still sitting in affected accounts. In some cases, banks received millions but could only return a fraction because the recipients had already cleared their accounts.
The Minister admitted this was the first time the government had followed through so aggressively to claw back funds from so-called “ghost workers.” In the past, staff audits would stop salaries, but recovery efforts were rarely pursued to this extent.
Lawmakers pressed the Minister for answers on how these ghost payments could go unnoticed for so long, and whether the government had a timeline for recovering the remaining funds. The Minister said legal action is being prepared and may include publishing the names of the individuals involved.
Questions were also raised about weaknesses in the government’s payroll system that allow non-existent or absentee staff to continue drawing salaries. The Minister said a new electronic attendance system will be introduced to track staff in real-time and automatically block payments when workers fail to show up at their assigned posts.
With only a small portion of the money recovered, Parliament is urging stronger action to close the loopholes draining public funds. The scandal has renewed concerns over how taxpayers’ money is handled in the civil service and whether systemic reforms will be enforced.