AFTER purging ghost workers and public servants with phony academic certificates off the payroll, the government has now descended on age cheating.
Already, a new scrutiny in civil service has uncovered 40,000 employees with contradictory ages to their employment files and to the National Identification Authority (NIDA).
The disclosure comes months after President John Magufuli vowed during the International Labour Day last May to deal with aged civil servants who lied on their ages to remain in office, denying job slots for potential young employees.
And, speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the newly appointed Minister of State in President’s Office (Public Service Management and Good Governance), George Mkuchika, said the analysis by the state has uncovered 40,000 employees with questionable declaration on their ages.
The minister stated that the government will conduct fresh verifications on aca demic qualifications and age of all public servants, countrywide.
“Records show that ages declared by these employees when seeking jobs are different from those submitted to NIDA as they sought national identification cards; what they did not know is that our systems have uncovered the anomaly. We are still scrutinising and if there were mistakes then they should make the required changes,” the minister explained as he responded to questions from journalists.
Earlier, Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry, Laurean Ndumbaro, unveiled the anomaly as the new minister was being handed the office by his predecessor, Ms Angellah Kairuki, who has been transferred to the new Ministry of Minerals.
Minister Mkuchika explained that after fresh verification of civil servants, the government will consider increasing salaries and promoting employees in the public service. “It is prudent to ensure you have suitable people for the jobs before effecting salary increments and promotions,” noted the minister, warning government employees against ‘business as usual’ attitude when serving the people.
Since it came to power almost two years ago, the fifth-phase government has scrapped off the payroll of 19,706 ghost workers and nearly 10,000 civil servants who lacked the required academic qualifications to work in civil service.
Available statistics indicate that the government used to fork out 238.2bn/- per annum as salaries and allow ances to the non-existing government employees. Capt. Mkuchika, who served in the docket during the fourth-phase government, vowed to reinstate discipline in civil service and curb corruption.
“In the past, those working in the public service were highly respected as people of highest esteem, but the situation has changed over the recent years, it is now hard to differentiate between employees in public and private sector,” he explained.
In regard to corruption, Capt. Mkuchika highlighted public awareness as among his priorities in curbing the vice. “Many countries have succeeded in the fight by creating awareness on the harms of corruption, I will communicate with my counterpart in the education docket to ensure anti-corruption education is offered from primary to tertiary education,” he noted.
At the handover, Ms Kairuki informed her successor that removal of workers with fake certificates and ghost workers from the payroll was among major challenges during her reign.
The new Minister for Minerals was, however, pleased that through the purge, the stage has been set for salary increment and promotions of civil servants with the required qualifications.
Source: DailyNews