300,000 civil servants haven't received October salaries

By Pascal Kwesiga

About 300,000 public servants on the Government payroll have not been paid last month’s salary.

This follows the ongoing investigations into the ghost pensioners’ scam in the public service ministry.

The delay of the payment of salaries has been caused by a thorough internal audit exercise of the payroll being carried out by the Ministry of Finance.

The audit is part of the investigations that have seen several government officials sent on forced leave due to their alleged link to the scam. They include the permanent secretary in the public service ministry, Jimmy Lwamafa; principal accountant Christopher Obey; research and planning director Stephen Kiwanuka-Kunsa and data manager Francis Lubega.

A recent audit discovered an estimated 7,600 ghost workers on the payroll of public servants.

The report also discovered a network of ghost creators at the Ministry of Public Service supported by the Ministry of Finance.

It established that sh169b was paid to 1,000 ghost pension workers of the East African Community between 2009 and 2012. The Ministry of Finance also estimates that sh28b is lost to ghost teachers, pupils and schools annually.

The Ministry of Public Service spokesperson, Jonas Tumwine, yesterday said all government departments, institutions and ministries had been affected.