Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby
By Mohamed Kamara
The 2024 Auditor General’s Report has raised serious concerns over the recruitment of health care workers and payroll management at the Ministry of Health.
According to the audit findings, a total of 2,820 health care workers were recruited in 2024, but auditors were unable to verify the fairness, transparency, and competitiveness of the recruitment process due to missing or incomplete documentation.
Key records such as approved lists from health facilities, applications, interview and shortlisting records, academic and professional credentials, performance appraisals, and completed Health Service Commission forms were not made available for verification.
Auditors noted that the absence of these documents undermines the integrity of the recruitment process and limits accountability.
They recommended that the Director of Human Resources for Health (DHRH), in collaboration with the Senior Permanent Secretary, should provide comprehensive documentary evidence covering all stages of the recruitment exercise.
In a separate finding, the audit revealed that five deceased staff remained on the Ministry’s payroll and continued to receive salaries even after their confirmed dates of death.
This resulted in unauthorised payments amounting to NLe222,327.60 in 2024.
The audit recommended that the DHRH should ensure that the funds paid to the deceased staff are recovered and refunded to the Consolidated Fund, and that the names of the affected staff are removed from the payroll through the Human Resources Management Office.
