{Rukwa Regional Commissioner (RC), Zelothe Steven, has ordered Regional Police Commander (RPC), Jacob Mwarunda, to trace and bring to justice 18 ghost workers uncovered during the just-ended verification exercise in workers payroll.}
Nine ghost workers were uncovered in Nkasi District, eight in Sumbawanga municipality and one in Sumbawanga District. The RC also ordered all the money paid to ghost workers be returned to government coffers and punitive action taken against the culprits.
He directed all the districts to repeat the verification exercise after discovering discrepancies in the first exercise. Mr Steven gave the directive during a meeting with elders, religious leaders, civil servants and members of the Regional Defence and Security Committee.
According to the RC, when he first reported to his new office, he was given a payroll with a list of all workers in the four district councils and that he was told there was no any ghost worker in the region.
“I rejected the reports as I smelt something fishy. I felt I was deceived and ordered the regional authorities to carry out a verification exercise in staff payrolls and 18 ghost workers were uncovered,” he said.
He said he was not pleased with the first exercise and ordered repeat of another exercise, warning that people who would be discovered hiding ghost workers would be punished.
The second verification will involve workers in the regional secretariat and local governments who will be required to appear physically with passportsize photographs and whose finger prints would be examined.
Meanwhile, the RC appealed to civil servants to rally behind President John Magufuli‘ s administration in implementing ‘Hapa Kazi Tu’ philosophy. He warned village, ward and divisional leaders not to behave as demi-gods by harassing innocent people, instead they should behave as servants of the people.
At the same occasion, Rukwa Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Albinus Mgonya, said the new RC had shown civil servant the direction to be followed in serving the people. Elders and religious leaders who attended the meeting assured Mr Steven of their support in ensuring that the region attains its set developmental goals.
Leave a Reply