-As President Boakai Launches the Employees Status Regularization Project (ESRP); Formally Unveils First 100 Consultants
The Director-General of Liberia’s Civil Service Agency (CSA), Mr. Josiah Joekai, has appealed to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, to engage the House of Representatives for its Standing Committee on Public Accounts, to hold speedy hearings on audit reports that have now accumulated dusts on the shelves of the committee room for more than two decades. The CSA DG wants an expediential prosecution of perpetrators whose hands were found in the cookies’ jars according to the audit reports.
DG Joekai made the plead after he had acquainted the President and others attending the Ministry of Information’s Special Press Briefing on Thursday, July 4th, about progress and actions that his agency has undertaken so far as it relates to reforms within the CSA since the Unity Party-led Administration ascended to the helm of power on January 22, 2024.
“It is often said that whenever the chief comes to town, that’s an opportunity for the people to put their problems before the chief. Your Excellency, the CSA is collaborating with the General Auditing Commission (GAC), the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) in this campaign to remove wastes, fraud and abuse from our institutions. I have come to realize that there are more than 300 audits reports spanning almost two decades without hearings into the merits and demerits to hold perpetrators accountable,” he said.
According to him, “When this is not done, Mr. President, our current reform efforts will be a drop in the bucket and corruption will continue to impede our national development and recovery processes.”
Giving Progressive Report
Touching on the main reason for the gathering—the launch of the Employees Status Regularization Project (ESRP), Joekai reminded the President that on April 30th, 2024, he (Boakai) launched the National Policy Guidelines on Consultancy, after which the CSA proceeded immediately with constituting a consultancy steering committing, comprising of three senior officials of the CSA and two from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP).
He disclosed that they received more than 200 applications from different spending agencies to recruit and deploy consultants.
“Our national steering committee screened those applications; shortlisted 120. Interviews were conducted and today we have only recruited 100 highly qualified experts in various fields,” he said. The CSA’s boss added, “By this time last fiscal year, the previous Administration had already recruited 1000+ consultants, many of whom were mere casual laborers. That is why today we are still experiencing the gross human resource capacity gaps in the government impeding the functions of government.”
The CSA DG said the 100 consultants come from different disciplines including lawyers, specialized medical doctors, and institutional human resourced development experts, who are going to help the President’s Administration to bridge the human resource gaps.
Earlier, Joekai informed his audience that some of the reformed actions that his administration has taken at the CSA are going to save the Liberian Government millions of United States Dollars. Some of those actions include mainly removing ghost names from payrolls.
“In June 2024, the CSA provided the sets of progressive reports on the ongoing ESRP covering three government spending entities: Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA) and the National Center for the Coordination and Response Mechanism (NCCRM). The report shows gross misuse and abuse of government’s resources through illegal salary payments to ghosts, double-dippers and duplicate accounts.
“At the Ministry of Mines and Energy, 40 employees were dismissed for not showing up to work for 14 to 20 days for each of the three months covered based on the time and attendance analysis. We suspended 81 employees without pay for one month for not showing up to work for eight to 12 consecutive days; and issued warning letters to 10 employees for not showing up to work for five to seven consecutive days.
“At the Liberia Institute of Public Administration, 28 employees were dismissed for not showing up to work for 14 to 20 days for each of the three months covered based on the time and attendance analysis. We suspended 30 employees without pay for not showing up to work for eight to 12 consecutive days; and issued three employees warning letters for not showing to work for five to seven consecutive days.
“At the National Center for the Coordination of Response Mechanisms, the CSA found no evidence of 12 individuals to be in the employ of the entity who received illegal payments from October to December 2023 in the amount of US$25,708.”
Joekai further stated that his agency immediately requested the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC) to investigate the former Executive Director and the Financial Comptroller “for such illegal payments and to advise the CSA for appropriate actions to be taken.”
He said the LACC has informed him that the investigation is getting wider because as they make inquiries more people are being invited for questioning.
The CSA boss called on the human resource directors, financial comptrollers of the MME, LIPA and NCCRM to report to the Solicitor General’s office at the Ministry of Justice for investigation into their alleged roles in these grave matters.
He stated that the CSA and the Justice Ministry are collaborating to ensure that those alleged human resource and financial mismanagements are investigated and prosecuted expedientially.
“In total the government will realize an annual saving of US$488,816.82 as a direct result of these actions taken by the CSA at the three spending entities,” he said.
He further reported that the CSA has completed employee physical verification and head counts at central offices of 29 government spending entities. “Of the 29, the CSA has blocked unverified employees from 14 of the 29 spending entities,” he disclosed.
“Mr. President, going forward the government will save a total of US$490,828.74 as a result of blocking these individuals. Also, as part of its ongoing implementation of the General Auditing Commission’s (GAC) 2021 payroll compliance audit recommendations, the CSA has blocked 689 individuals, from the payroll, with duplicate national identification numbers from 49 spending entities on the payroll. This strategic action was taken after our Employee Verification and Headcount System detected 54 names with duplicate national identification numbers from four spending entities.”
According to him, of the 689 individuals, only two showed up for verification. “That means the remaining 687 are potential ghosts,” he added. He disclosed that as a direct result of the blocking, the government will save US$223,413.84 monthly and US$2.6million annually.
MICAT Boss
Speaking earlier before Joekai, the Minister of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism (MICAT), Mr. Jerolinmek M. Piah, had thanked President Boakai for the visit to his ministry.
Min. Piah informed Pres. Boakai that the last time a sitting Liberian President visited the Ministry, which is just next door to the Executive Mansion, was in 2009. It was former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who had stopped by to sign the Book of Condolence for the late Uncle Bill Frank Enoyi.
The MICAT building, which is the second oldest building on Capitol Hill, is two years older than the Executive Mansion, which was built in 1964.
Piah spoke of how dilapidated the building is and thanked the President for approving funding for its renovation.
Pres. Boakai
The President informed Liberians that he and none of his subordinates came to government with the mind to hunt other people because of their association with previous administrations. “We have to do things right. We have to be honest with ourselves,” he stressed.
The octogenarian President said he and others of his generation have now gone through their time but some still have the minds to set the stage right for the next generations. “I tell people all the time, that it’s not about the next election, it’s about the next generation.”
The President paraphrased a famous Bible verse from James 4:17: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. “We are going to do what is right to make our country straight. You can make me your friend or make me whoever you want me to be. But we are going to do the right thing to put our country straight. It’s a shame to be blessed as we are and to be poor as we are!”
President Boakai thanked the CSA for the milestone journey, adding that the ESRP is dedicated to enhancing payroll betterment and it is a testament to his Administration’s dedication to not only remove ghost names, but to also deliver efficient services to the people of Liberia.
The President mentioned how a pastor of his had been receiving money for work he wasn’t doing at all.
“By ideally implementing the ESRP, we will get to know the Government of Liberia’s legitimate employees and we aimed to minimize wastes and ensure the better use public resources,” he added.
He thanked the DG Joekai for undertaking the initiative that will save the government millions of dollars.
However, the Liberian leader stated that with the National policy guidelines which he launched in April of 2024 including other effective policy measures put in place by the Civil Service Agency, the story will be different unlike before.
He indicated further that his government currently does not have money to retained qualified teachers as such, they will keep those already trained.
Liberia has trained lots of medical doctors but we don’t retain them. He disclosed that his Administration is seeking for scholarships that will be given to deserving Liberians including “cdicians” as partisans of the opposition Coalition/Congress for Democratic Change refer to themselves.
He then concluded by formally launching the ESRP and charged the consultants to discharge their duties professionally.
