The government of Jonglei State is set to launch an exercise to screen all ghost employees on its payroll as the new fiscal year begins, the state government spokesperson revealed over the weekend.
Ghosts, in this case, refer to non-existent employees presumed to be working and are paid salaries in the state.
John Samuel Manyuon, who is also the state information minister, told Radio Tamazuj Saturday that the exercise will begin after the reabsorption of civil servants from defunct states is completed. He revealed that the state is overstaffed with a workforce of 14, 000.
“On Friday, the state had an extraordinary meeting, and on the agenda was the amalgamation of civil servants and staffing of new ministries like that of peacebuilding and roads,” he said. “On the issue of amalgamation, four ministries which have not yet completed it have been given one week so that we have one unified Jonglei State workforce.”
“From all the defunct states, we have more than 14, 000 civil servants, and these are not people who are in the state because the majority of them were registered by relatives when people were returning to the 10 states,” Minister Many added.
He urged all civil servants outside the state to report as the screening exercise is set to begin in weeks.
“The next (salary) payments will be done based on the ministries that have finished amalgamation and if a minister does not finish, the ministry will not get salaries and they will be questioned,” he warned. “On 27 August, a circular was issued for civil servants to report to the state so we are still urging them to come. However, we are not cutting them off because, as per the law, there is going to be some sort of head count. We know it is the rainy season and accessibility to our state is difficult, but we urge them to report by any possible means.”
For his part, Abraham Mading Amer, the acting head of the Jonglei Workers’ Union, said the unification of the state workforce is long overdue.
“This process should have started a year ago, but the state government delayed it for a reason known to them. So, now we want to witness them amalgamating the workforce,” he said. “Our concern from two months ago was that the government should announce that there will be head counts and give civil servants some times to come to the state because people fled the war.”
Meanwhile, Ter Manyang, the chairperson of the civil society organization Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), lauded the move, saying it will create job opportunities if done in good faith and called on the state government to be transparent.
“Some civil servants were employed without qualifications, so this move is good because it will help the government in service delivery,” he said. “However, the procedure should be transparent in a manner in which everybody will be satisfied, and people should be given enough time to comply.”