Government has warned controlling officers and heads of government departments of stern action if found entering wrong information on the government payroll system.
Public Service Management Division (PSMD) Permanent Secretary, Ignatius Kashoka, says government will not take kindly any controlling officers and heads of government departments who will be seen frustrating government’s efforts of building accountability and efficiency in the payroll system by entering wrong information into the system.
Mr Kashoka was speaking in the tourism Capital, Livingston, when he launched the Payroll Management and Establishment Control (PMEC) offices in Southern Province.
He said controlling officers and heads of government departments should be honest and exhibit a high level of discipline in order to make a new government payroll programme a success as well as to help the system build accountability and efficiency.
Mr Kashoka said some controlling officers and heads of government departments have a tendency of inputing wrong information, a move he described as detrimental to enhancing efficiency and accountability in the public service delivery.
He said that government decided to embark on a nation-wide programme of decentralizing the new payroll system with a view to enhancing efficiency and addressing other challenges that the civil service were facing, particularly in the payroll system.
Mr Kashoka said the move to introduce and decentralize the government payroll system was aimed at meeting the high number of civil servant employees that government was employing which now stood at 130,000.
He further said government was prompted to introduce a new payroll system because of the so many cases that the Public Service Management Division was facing such as the paying of ghost workers, paying of the people who already had retired from the civil service and other challenges.
Mr Kashoka also disclosed that the Division has made progress by opening-up PMEC offices in the four provinces of the country, adding that feasibility studies to set-up more PMEC offices have been completed.
He cited Northern, Southern, Central and Western Provinces respectively as some of the provinces that the Division has managed to set-up PMEC offices.
The PSMD Permanent Secretary has since urged controlling officers in government ministries and departments to be honest and exhibit a high level of discipline in order to make a new government payroll programme a success as well as to help the system build accountability and efficiency in the government payroll system.
Speaking at the same function, Southern Province Deputy Permanent Secretary Aaron Zulu, commended government for decentralizing the new payroll system to the province.
Mr Zulu said the launching of the PMEC offices in Southern Province will play a paramount role in building accountability and efficiency in the government payroll system.
The PMEC programme, which started as a pilot project in 2001 as a result of government realization of the need to improve efficiency and addressing the other challenges that the civil service was facing in the areas of the payroll system, will now roll to all the nine Provinces of the country.
Yeah , ….the ‘ghost workers’ names issues.
Well if the new payroll is truly decentralized, It will be easy to catch Ghost workers. I thought the old centralized system was the most difficult to manage. I wonder why they too them so long. But too many scams in Civil service, I would not be surprised if somebody people his entire clan on this new system. Isn’t there a way to audit things?
Most zambians r allergic 2 development we will these payroll systems wil be used for some thievings like peter wrote putting the clan on the payrol. Awe mwandi. What do we need 2 do 4 us 2 change our thinking? Prayers? No! zambia was declared christian nation by the chief plunderer. Gudnite late bloggers.
Cant Banks help government curb theft of “Ghost Worker” wages by tightening identification procedures when withdrawing cash?
Actually, the warning reminds to enter false data…. LOL
One way which can help cut down on ghost workers is electronic logbook which should show the time some one reports for work. That would even cut down on malingering where someone just goes out of office to go and buy building sand ku Kasisi when he is supposed to be in the office. The same can be used to work out how much participants to workshops have to be paid based on the time they have spent inside whether dozing or making meaningful contribution. But the catch is to ensure people stop cutting corners where they just appear when they know ati nomba batampa ukufolesha.
We can only say awe mwandi mwe!
ENTERING!!!!!
#8 Miss daisy, Baini!!!!!
The govt does not want to invest in programs that can prevent such activities in the civil service. Why must it take so long for the govt to come with a solid software to manage the payroll system. This is an issue that can be managed easily. All they need to do is inquire and they can easily find programmers to do the work. Its a pity that there are so much scandles in the civil service. We are really tired of these scandles in the govt. When are we going to develop with such kind of attitudes by the people we entrust our national affairs with? Shame