𝐆𝐀𝐂 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐔𝐒$36𝐊 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 ‘Free-Chopping’ …Urges Gov’t To Stop Paying ‘74 Newly Hired’

GAC Uncovers US$36K Monthly ‘Free-Chopping’

-Urges Gov’t To Stop Paying ’74 Newly Hired’

Authorities at the General Auditing Commission (GAC) said, they have Uncovered a monthly scam (free chopping) totaling US$ 36,000 at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs.

This discovery, one political activity described it as being “inside the President’s office” during the regime of George Weah’s government and continues to date.

Meanwhile, the GAC urged the management to facilitate post physical verification of the unverified 74 newly hired supplementary personnel within 90 days of the issuance of the auditor general’s report to the Legislature or discontinue disbursements subsequently to them.

Though the President’s office is yet to react to the GAC’s report, the entity added: “We have undertaken a Compliance Audit of the Supplementary Payroll System of the Ministry of State (MoS) for Presidential Affairs for the periods July 1, 2018, through March 31, 2024.

The audit was conducted in line with Section 2.1.3 of the GAC Act of 2014.

Findings conveyed in this report were formally communicated to the authorities of the MoS for their responses. The reportable issues were submitted through a Management Letter. Where responses were provided, they were evaluated and were incorporated in this report.

Given the significance of the matters raised in this report, we urge the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Pro- Tempore and members of the Senate to consider the implementation of the recommendations conveyed in this report with urgency.”

GAC said, during the audit, “we observed irregularities associated with the hiring and management of the newly hired supplementary personnel:

No evidence that management developed policy to regulate the hiring and management of supplementary personnel.

The total number of supplementary staff in this category were 74 with total monthly gross salaries amounting to US$36,367.50.”

Further, the GAC recalled how “several of the personnel on the personnel listing did not have records of assigned departments, employee identification numbers, NIR as required by the structure of the personnel listing for easy verification and monitoring purposes.

Among other things, the Commission observed during the conduct of the audit that there were “no evidence that management complied with the Standing Orders for the Civil Service of 2012. We observed no evidence of written request to the Director- General of the CSA containing the titles, statement of the duties and responsibilities, salaries as well as the tenures of the positions to be filled prior to the hiring of the 74 supplementary personnel of MoS as required.

No evidence that management facilitated competitive recruitment of the supplementary personnel through the CSA.

No evidence that management budgeted and included salary expense for the new supplementary personnel as a unique line item in the entity’s approved budget. Salary expense for the supplementary personnel was financed by transferring money from line item “consultancy” in the approved budget. No evidence that the reallocation of the fund was approved by the deputy minister of budget and the CSA as required.

No evidence of an approved salary structure for the supplementary personnel to regulate the allocation and payment of salaries. Salaries were allocated and adjusted for newly hired supplementary personnel without evidence of approved salary structure or adoption of the government harmonized paygrade.

Several salaries and positions on the new supplementary staff payroll could not be traced/found on government’s harmonized paygrade.”

The GAC said, for the periods ended March 31, 2024, “several positions for the newly hired supplementary staff were not within the MoS’ Job Description Policy Document. No evidence that supplementary personnel’s salaries were approved by the relevant authority and communicated to the personnel during the time of employment.

As of recent, the GAC reported that the 74 newly hired supplementary staff were not available for physical verification during the audit.

“No evidence that management-maintained personnel files for all them.

Failure to adequately develop, approve and operationalize policy and procedures to regulate the hiring and management of supplementary personnel may lead to arbitrary decisions. This may lead to non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations and may impair the achievement of the entity’s’ objectives.

Hence, GAC said they were unable to verify the physical existence of the 74 newly hired supplementary personnel during the time of this report. They meanwhile, urged the management to facilitate post physical verification of the unverified 74 newly hired supplementary personnel within 90 days of the issuance of the Auditor General’s Report to the Legislature or discontinue disbursements subsequently to them.