WESTERN Province Permanent Secretary, Emmanuel Mwamba has suspended two civil servants for allegedly paying themselves K55,000 using the Government payroll.

The two named officials worked as end-users from the Ministry of Agriculture in Western Province on the Payroll Management Establishment and Control (PEMEC) System, a payroll programme that government uses.

In his letter of suspension dated July 30, 2013 to the duo, Mr Mwamba stated that the two officials committed fraud on the system last month, by purporting that a former officer, Owen Mangaila, a mechanic at the Ministry of Agriculture was being paid his long-service bonus.

"However it was established that Mr Mangaila was no longer an employee of the ministry since May 2013 and his long-service bonus had already been paid.

"The two officers processed the payment and directed PEMEC to deposit it in one of their personal bank accounts," Mr Mwamba said.

He warned other end-users on the payroll that he would dismiss anyone found wanting as Government was losing monies through payments to ghost workers or duplicated payments to officers.

He said though the two officers had confessed their crime and were made to refund the stolen KR55, 000 to the treasury, the administration would take stern action against them, as a deterrent measure to other civil servants attracted to illegal methods of obtaining money.

He said this month alone, he had blocked another fraudulent payment to a suspended officer in Lukulu.

In the Lukulu case, the end-user forged letters from the Lukulu District Medical Officer (DMO) and purported that a suspended official was reinstated and back pay was paid using the PEMEC system.

He said his office was making frantic efforts to ensure that outstanding allowances for civil servants were cleared and would therefore not allow the exercise to be marred by fraudulent activities.

He expressed gratitude to PEMEC support services director, Ackim Sakala, who he said had been quick to send auditors to the province to stop the frauds.

He called on PEMEC support services to continue being vigilant, adding that despite the payroll being almost fool proof, criminal minds would attempt to learn and defraud the system as demonstrated by the two cases.