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The Ministry of Information and Civic Education has come under scrutiny following findings in the 2024 Audit Report which raised concerns over salary payments to staff who could not be fully accounted for during verification.
According to the Auditor-General, five individuals listed on the Ministry’s payroll were not available for physical verification during the audit period.
A total of NLe368,595.84 was paid to these individuals, prompting auditors to recommend that the Director of Human Resources ensure their verification or recover the salaries and return them to the Consolidated Fund.
In its official response, the Ministry said it carried out an internal verification exercise and provided explanations for the discrepancies. Management stated that two staff members, identified by pin-codes 128090 and 139970, are duly reflected on the approved staff list and government payroll.
The Ministry also explained that a third individual is a confirmed employee of the Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation, and that his appearance on the Ministry of Information and Civic Education’s payroll segment was due to an administrative error.
The Ministry further noted that the remaining five individuals cited in the audit are not staff of the Ministry. Management said it had initiated steps to formally notify the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) of the anomalies for review and regularisation, to ensure alignment between the Ministry’s staff list and the government payroll.
However, in its concluding remarks, the Auditor-General stated that during the verification exercise, the three individuals referenced in the Ministry’s response were physically verified.
The audit report noted that no documentary evidence was submitted to show reconciliation between the staff list and the payroll for the remaining five individuals, whose combined annual gross salary amounts to NLe130,932.00.
In the absence of such evidence, the Auditor-General concluded that the issue remains unresolved.
