Babucarr Bouy, The Minister of Public Services, Administrative Reforms and Policy Coordination
By Fatou Sillah
Babucarr Bouy, Minister of Public Services, Administrative Reforms and Policy Coordination, told lawmakers at the National Assembly on Wednesday that only 2 million Dalasi has been recovered so far from approximately 23.9 million Dalasi paid in salaries to government workers who could not be physically verified.
The funds were paid to 1,430 employees identified during the first phase of the 2024 staff audit, which compared payroll records across the Ministries of Basic Education, Health, and Agriculture. The payments were disbursed through 16 financial institutions.
“Honourable Speaker, out of a total estimated salary payment of about 23.9 million to these unseen staff, only about 2 million have so far been recovered from the financial institutions,” Minister Bouy said, adding that the government is pursuing the remaining amounts. Several customer accounts linked to these transactions have been frozen pending further investigation.
The minister noted that nearly half of the funds were withdrawn before banks received instructions to recover the salaries. “Many have reported that most of the funds had been withdrawn before receipt of our directive, so they could not refund the remaining funds in the affected accounts, For example one of the banks identified to have received over 7 million could only refund just over 1.6 million to the treasury main account meaning nearly 5.7 million had already been withdrawn by the affected staff,” he said.
Minister Bouy also highlighted challenges in recovering the funds, including some banks’ demands for either customer consent or court orders before releasing money. Stating “We are also facing some challenges from some banks arguing that they need the consent of their customers or a court order to be able to release the available funds.”
To address this, the ministry has requested intervention from the Solicitor General and Legal Secretary to obtain court orders to facilitate recovery from financial institutions. The minister warned that legal action against individuals involved in the scheme would be pursued if necessary.
“May I inform the Honourable Member that this is an exercise that we have not embarked upon in the way we are doing it currently, because in the past staff audits would be conducted and the staff that are unseen would have their salaries stopped, and the recovery was not being followed rigorously as we are doing this time,” he explained.
Although no specific timeline for full recovery was offered, the minister assured lawmakers of the government’s commitment to reclaim the funds.
Minister Bouy clarified that these employees were not fictitious names but individuals duly appointed by the Public Service Commission. However, during the audit, it was found that many could not be located at their assigned posts.
“They are not fictitious names; they would have been individuals who have been properly and duly appointed by the Public Service Commission, because no name will appear on the payroll if there is no appointment letter being issued,” he added.
Minister Bouy also revealed plans to publish the names of those who owe money, giving them deadlines to repay before legal action is taken.
“At the moment we are working with these financial institutions that is why, in the final statement, we have indicated that we will be taking legal actions against individuals not financial institutions, It will be against individuals involved we are even thinking of publishing the names of those concerned eventually, to give them notice that you owe X amount and we are giving you period Y for you to settle it, If not we will take legal action,” he said.
He described the payroll process, explaining that Treasury releases funds for every name on the payroll to their designated financial institution each month, but reconciliation through staff audits reveals discrepancies.
“Treasury would not know who may have received his or her salary until a reconciliation is done through the staff audit, that is what we have been doing with the financial institutions following the staff audit. The fact of the matter is that those who have not been on their post should not have received the money,” he explained.
To strengthen accountability, the minister said the ministry was working with heads of institutions to report staff attendance to the Prime Minister’s Office. Recognizing the limitations of manual reporting, they are developing an electronic attendance register to monitor staff presence in real time.
“Up to now we have been depending on the heads of institutions to report to PMO the presence or otherwise of staff but we know that manual system has not been effective and that is why we are working on introducing this electronic attendance register so that in real time you will know who is in the place that the individual is supposed to be,” he said.
He added, “That is why we want to program it in such a way that after a certain number of days during which the individual is not seen in that location, you are locked out.”