15,000 ‘Ghost Workers’ On Government Payroll Exposed

Tumfweko has unearthed a ‘scam fraud’ in which thousands of ‘ghost workers’ have been on government payroll for the past five or more years in different Ministries.
Sources within cabinet office revealed that the government has been losing millions of Kwacha by paying workers that had either left employment through dismissal, retirement or death.
“Some workers who left the civil service have remained on the payroll for years enjoying the usual benefits and even the annual salary increases,” the sources said.
In some bizarre cases, the sources said, “Some workers have deliberately manipulated to effect double payments on salaries”.
The sources further disclosed that cabinet office senior officers have fraudulently maintained dead workers on the payroll to pocket the money at the end of every month for years.
“These guys play weird cards, we tend to wonder on how they have managed to build lodges from the money they get but alas its fraud” said the source.
Although the exact figure is not yet known, Tumfweko understands that the money lost could run into Trillions of Kwacha especially for those ‘ghost workers’ that have been on the payroll for longer periods.
The government’s payroll currently stands at around 120, 000 but the sources said atleast 15,000 of these people are ghost workers.
This could have been caused by genuine errors in failing to clear workers from the system or deliberate manipulation of the system by some corrupt cabinet officers.
Subsequent checks have revealed that some of the workers had long ceased working for the government or were dead.
Tumfweko has discovered that some ministries are over-spending their salary budgets because of the ‘ghost workers’.
The problem is prevalent in almost all ministries especially in the Ministry of Education where it is rampant.

Posted by Editor on October 12, 2011. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

66 Responses to 15,000 ‘Ghost Workers’ On Government Payroll Exposed

Rfat

October 12, 2011 at 1:18 pm

Ati Ba ndola thats what makes it porous if any one can make changes, no strict control it needs proper admin. thr better programs here in Zambia developed by fwebene mudala.
chick niggarz

October 12, 2011 at 1:26 pm

chume ulupi!
Zential

October 12, 2011 at 2:27 pm

Xpecially in the ministry of education were dora wz , and she wz so mch talkative lik she is a ware of all thngs that ar happing in Govrt kashi ur thieves.
Anani Koffi

October 12, 2011 at 2:40 pm

Guys if this is true then Sata or sorry his ex -MCS need to move fast and create 15000 jobs easily by simply cleaning this messy.
This is why we need labour related statistics.
One of you guys questioned whether am learned or not? School wise a have bachelors with distinction but this is not what makes me wise the key is I was far better than anyone who taught me. Because of this I have decided not to pursue the useless further studies u call Masters and PhDs because i will still be taught by dull chaps.
Anyway the point is I dont need to have alot of papers to pump sense in you. I am like Sata. Your RB with BA (economics) did not see that it was wrong buying 2 cars valued at K3.6 Billion but Sata not very educated according to your defination has seen it.

Your RB (BA -economics) did not see that ZNS was not doing its purpose
But Sata (Born Wise) has directed ZNS to back to work.
Anani Koffi

October 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Thanks Mwamba. U know i did not say am the only computer scientist but I said am the best in the whole country. You know my weakness is that I know my strenght and that my strength is that I know that am not weak.
Mwandekelsha

October 12, 2011 at 2:47 pm

these things r real nd its hapening in every GRZ dptment as 4 us in Mfuwe we are not given our hardship allowance,we do’t recieve funding,we do’t hav our own transport but we fall under the PSs ofice,we do’t know wu is enjoyg our money coz we’v writen 2 the PSs ofice over the matta bt nothg hs been don even 1 of the newly appoited D/Minister wu by the time was D/PS 4 eastern province knows the issue. I wud appreciate if u took up this issue ba Tumfweko like u’v done with other issues
Ndikalombwana kachende

October 12, 2011 at 3:27 pm

This is what happens as a father if you try to steal in the presence of your children everybody will take advantage of it. When people were saying RB is a thief others wudn’t understand it see wat has happened now. There are alot of things which still need 2 be restored.
sansah

October 12, 2011 at 4:00 pm

This is not news. Ghost workers have always been there since Kaunda days. The problem in Zambia is that most ministries still use papers. If all ministries were updated and computers were put it would just be a matter of minutes for someone to delete someone who died from the payroll. As someone who worked in the government just for one item to be changed the piece of paper had to pass through 5 hands/desks, by the time that paper reaches the 5th person it is no longer a priority hence comes an opportunity for someone to steal or commit fraud. Technology is important.
correctedZ

October 12, 2011 at 4:11 pm

Nice way of conducting verification – woodlands stadium, hahaha. Every now and then they tell us there is verification of grz employees now we wonder what it is they verify.
nomba ninshi

October 12, 2011 at 4:18 pm

sansah u r absolutely correct. most of the ministries r just rigid toward ideas of technologies.computerising their system Sud b a good start
Scared Citizen

October 12, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Get rid of the bad nats…
chizo #1

October 12, 2011 at 5:45 pm

de curtain as nw bin rolled over & nw we can see. imagine bein blind folded mu calo chesu. justice has now prevailed. freedom at last.
ZOC

October 12, 2011 at 7:12 pm

arrest the bagga and bring them to book this is the chaps make us ukulafola utukoto tie them
Henry

October 12, 2011 at 9:42 pm

this is rubbish,thanks to the revealer of information.lets sort these ghost.
SOSOLISO

October 13, 2011 at 1:52 am

@ Ba Ndola. That SAP system was designed and managed by humans and is prone to manipulation. Imagine,someone in China or Russia hacking into the CIA secret system.What is SAP? What we need is accountability and proper system audit so that the inputs are not way off the mark.
Norman Ngwila

October 13, 2011 at 9:26 am

It is good we now have a president who is allergic to corruption. dont worry dear Zambians, the “GHOSTBUSTER PRESIDENT” is here to sort this disgusting mess out. Lets give him all our support.