GOVERNMENT will recover money from the 4,000 ghost workers and their creators on the Copperbelt from their terminal benefits. Public Service Management Division (PSMD) Permanent Secretary Boniface Chimbwali said apart from administrative action, civil servants who will be found wanting will be handed over to law enforcement agencies for prosecution.

Mr Chimbwali said some money will also be recovered from civil servants who moved from one station to another without permission or following procedure. He said this at State House yesterday when President Edgar Lungu asked him about what he is doing to ensure that the money paid to ghost workers is recovered and the measures PSMD has put in place to avoid such happenings in future.

A recent government payroll clean-up on the Copperbelt revealed that 4,000 civil servants were unaccounted for while K60 million was lost monthly through fraudulent management of the payroll. Last week, PSMD froze salary accounts for all the 4,000 fake workers. President Lungu directed that those in charge of cleaning up the civil service payroll should not just end at freezing salary accounts but should ensure that the culprits are arrested and prosecuted. “Say something about those gentlemen and ladies who were getting four, five, six salaries! That chap on the Copperbelt… so many salaries one person. Why has it taken you so long to act?

Any chances of recovering the money?” President Lungu said. In response, Mr Chimbwali said Government has withdrawn user rights from people who were managing payroll systems because they were creators of ghost workers in most cases. He said controlling officers have been given rights to be the super users of payroll systems so that they can be held accountable. “In the past, controlling officers did not have access to the payroll despite being in charge. They did not know who was old or new on the payroll, so we are changing that.

“Imagine one person getting 10 salaries amounting to about K107,000 per month? That is criminal! We are also training new people to be in charge of payroll systems,” he said. Mr Chimbwali said PSMD has already frozen some accounts in which civil servants were drawing multiple salaries. He said in some cases, a civil servant was getting over K100,000 after drawing multiple salaries. “We made threats but time has come now for action. We have started by freezing their accounts, so those who are affected can go to their controlling officers and dialogue.

“We want to know where you have been and why you [civil servants] left. If we are satisfied with your explanation, we will reinstate you on the payroll, otherwise disciplinary action will be taken against you,” he said. Mr Chimbwali also said those who changed their salary grades without permission from the Civil Service Commission should be worried because disciplinary action will be taken against them.