It is quite up sad that thousands of civil servants in 36 districts could miss their April 2014 salaries. This follows the failure by Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) to submit their payroll details to the Finance Ministry. Civil servants likely to be affected included teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers and public prosecutors.
Districts such as Hoima, Tororo, Masaka, Mukono, Pader, Soroti, Nebbi are likely to suffer the consequences. The Finance Permanent Secretary, Mr. Keith Muhakanzi on 23rd April 2014 instructed CAOs to finalize the payrolls.
He added that by 25th April 2014 the payroll details should be already submitted to the Accountant General. “If the CAOs fail to meet this new deadline, civil servants will have their salaries by April 28th 2014,”said Keith Muhakanzi.
However, some Chief Administrative Officers say they had already sent the information. Mr. Frank Ntaho, the Kabale District CAO insisted he had submitted a soft copy and it was received on April 16 2014. Finance Minister Spokesperson, Mr. Jim Mugunga added that the details are aimed at eliminating ghosts from payrolls. The government has been paying a lot of money to ghost civil servants.
The Office of Auditor General reported that it contracted the audit firm Ernst & Young to review and streamline payrolls so as to eliminate ghost workers. It appears this could be the reason for the delay.
