South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The National Ministry of Finance has recovered money inform of arrears amounting to 8 million South Sudanese Pounds from 79 former civil servants who quit work for lucrative jobs in the NGO sector.
Majok Anhiem, the Minister of Finance in Lakes state told The Dawn on Tuesday that the money was recovered by a committee of the National Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning that was dispatched to Lakes State to trace the former civil servants.
“When the committee came to Lakes State, they got the names of 79 people who have gone for greener pastures. They went to work with NGOs because by then the salaries had not been increased,” Anhiem said.
He revealed that the money has been transferred to the government treasury in Juba.
Anhiem said that the names of the affected civil servants are going to be written off the payroll.
He appealed to the national government to pay the remaining three-month salary arrears of civil servants.
He argued that the newly introduced biometric system will delay the payment of salaries.
“Let the payment of the salary continue and the biometric system can also continue on the other side because the payroll has already been submitted to the Ministry of Finance for payment,” Anhiem said.
In November 2023, the National Ministry of Public Service announced that it would roll out a biometric payment system to help clear out ghost workers on the payroll.
A biometric system is a computerized paying system whereby people are paid through a computer system and the names are computerized.
It helps in fighting against duplication of names.
The Ministry said that the next payment of salaries will be released to civil servants with financial ID cards issued to all public servants and organized forces.
The card will be issued immediately upon receiving their salaries to clear the payroll of ghost names and set the pace for a biometric system of salary payment.
