By Lamin B. Darboe
The Human Resource Information System Division (HRISD) at the Personnel Management Office (PMO) is mandated to establish and maintain Human Resource Information System (HRIS) for the Civil Service, and to establish a functional database capturing the entire civil servants with profiles, performance updates and Human Resource (HR) activities, such as appointments, promotions, terminations, dismissals, salary stoppage, service transfers, secondments etc.
In this interview, Director of the Human Resource Information System Division, Babanding Saikou Manjang underscored the importance of staff auditing, and recounted the findings of the last staff audits his office spearheaded, and the consequential interventions that led to government saving millions of Dalasis.
“Staff auditing within the civil service is an important activity that helps to un-soil the payroll better than any other technique engaged,” he declared; adding that the exercise ensures proper control of the menace of personnel playing truant, as well as ensure the maintenance of payroll with integrity.
Mr Manjang made reference to the 2017 Staff Audit Report which exposed series of payroll malpractices. He said the report identified 3,146 absentee employees whose salaries have been stopped since June 9, 2017. The total salary for the said staff by the month of March, 2017 amounted to D10, 445, 612.23, he said. “This would have cost the Accountant General’s Department (AGD) at least a total amount of D125, 347, 346.76 per annum if the salaries had not been stopped,” he disclosed.
He also reported that a total of D124, 612.28 had also been recovered from employees who were seconded or transferred to other institutions and yet their names persist to appear on the payroll.
“The balance of illegitimate salaries yet to be recovered from transferred and seconded officers amounts to D779, 901.71,” he revealed.
In the 2019 Staff Audit Report, Director Manjang further highlighted that 1,401 government employees were recorded unseen, at the completion of the field exercise. He said the AGD was then advised to stop salaries paid to those names, which amounted to a total of D8, 127,258.29.