Monrovia — The director-general of the Civil Service Agency (CSA), Josiah Joekai, says that following verification and headcount conducted at government spending entities, 332 employees have been blocked pending further verification from August 15 to September 15, 2024.
These employees, including those recommended for dismissal, one-month suspension without pay, and prorated salaries, were blocked based on an analysis of their respective entities' attendance records from the verification and headcount exercise.
On July 4, 2024, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., officially launched the Employee Status Regularization Project (ESRP) to establish the actual workforce of the government.
As a result, the CSA deployed teams across five regions to conduct verification and headcount at nine government spending entities. The exercise began on July 10, 2024, and is expected to conclude on August 20, 2024.
Among other things, it aims to identify legitimate employees on the government payroll and regularize the employment status of civil servants who did not complete Personnel Action Notices (PAN) as per Section 35 1-6 of the Revised Human Resources Policy Manual but are already on the payroll, identify and collect missing employee data to update the payroll and remove ghost names, illegitimate employees, and double dippers.
Unveiling the first progressive reports of the exercise at the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism's regular press briefing on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, director-general Joekai detailed that the total workforce at WASH Commission is 82; one employee (1%) did not fully submit required documents, and 18 employees (22%) did not attend the verification. A total of 64 employees (77%) were verified.
He says the Monrovia City Corporation has a total workforce of 955, but two hundred and nine employees (22%) were not verified, while 13 (1%) are on sick leave without approved documents; two employees (0.000%) are on study leave without evidence, and six hundred thirty employees (66%) were verified besides one hundred one employees (11%) who did not participate in the verification.
The CSA Boss further reports that the total number of employees at the Ministry of Labour is 224, but two employees (1%) on the May 2024 payroll were not verified, while one hundred fifty employees (67%) were verified. Ten employees (5%) did not fully submit documents, and 14 employees (6%) did not show up for verification. Forty-eight unverified employees, including those on sick leave, study leave, court assignments, and outstation, represent 2% and 19% of the workforce, respectively.
He says the total workforce at the Ministry of Transport is 398, but thirty-four employees (9%) were unverified, and 18 employees (4%) did not show up. Seventy-one employees (18%) were updated but not verified. Two hundred seventy-five employees (69%) were verified.
The CSA records workforce at the state-owned Liberia Broadcasting System at 142. Three employees (3%) were updated but not verified. One hundred seven employees (91%) were verified, while seven unverified employees (6%) remained on the payroll as of April 30, 2024.
Twenty-two employees (6%) were not verified at the Ministry of Information. Eleven employees (3%) did not show up, and eight employees (2%) were updated but not verified. A total of three hundred fifty-one employees (89%) were verified.
The Civil Service Agency continues that three employees at the Ministry of Education did not show up, fifteen employees (89%) were on study leave without evidence of grades, five employees (6%) were on sick and maternity leave without medical reports, and three hundred four employees were verified.
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The total workforce at Governance Commission is 156. Five employees (3%) did not show up, and 141 employees (90%) were verified. Ten employees (7%) were not verified.
Office of the Vice President and Group of 77: The total workforce is 174. Ninety-seven employees (67%) were verified. Three employees (2%) were unverified, and thirty-four employees (23%) did not show up. One employee resigned, and one died, representing 1% of the workforce. Ten employees (7%) are said to be on leave.
Meanwhile, CSA director Joekai says that based on the verification and headcount results, the government is expected to save $161,117.97 monthly and $789,280.10 for the remaining five months of 2024.
After inheriting a bloated government payroll, the Boakai administration launched a vigorous appraisal of the entire public sector workforce to ascertain active and documented employees to streamline the monthly payroll.
