Deceased, Unverified Staff Paid Millions
Basic Education Minister, Conrad Sackey
By Ishmail Saidu Kanu
The 2024 Auditor General’s Report has uncovered serious financial and administrative lapses within a government ministry, including the payment of salaries to deceased staff, unverified employees on the payroll, and long-delayed contracts despite advance payments.
According to the report, salaries continued to be paid to two deceased staff members with pin codes 356905and 107435, even after their death notifications were received in January and May 2024 respectively.
A total of NLe112,766 was paid to the deceased staff from the dates of their deaths to December 2024.
The Auditor General noted that the Human Resources Directorate failed to promptly notify the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) and the Accountant-General’s Department to stop the payments, describing the situation as a waste of scarce public resources.
The report also revealed that 38 staff members failed to present themselves for physical verification during the financial year. Despite this, they collectively received NLe1,891,499 in net salaries in 2024.
The Auditor General warned that salaries may have been paid to non-existent staff and recommended immediate physical verification and recovery of salaries from those who could not be verified.
In another finding, the report mentioned outstanding contracts awarded for the supply of teaching and learning materials and the installation of beds and accessories in schools.
A contract worth NLe6,785,030 was awarded to Commission Enterprises in June 2021, with an advance payment of NLe2,035,509 made in September 2022. However, 28 months after the advance payment, the materials had not been supplied.
Similarly, AKJ Enterprise received an advance payment of NLe434,843 in March 2022 for a contract awarded in 2021 to supply and install beds and accessories at Government Secondary School, Jimmi, but the work remained unexecuted 34 months later.
The Auditor General further noted that the performance bonds and advance payment guarantees for the two contracts had expired and were not renewed, exposing government funds to potential loss.
The report recommended that the Procurement Committee should ensure the immediate execution or termination of the contracts and recover the total advance payments of NLe2,470,352 for payment into the Consolidated Fund.
