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An audit report by the Audit Service Sierra Leone for 2024 has revealed that the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) continued to pay salaries to deceased staff for several months, resulting in significant financial losses to the government.
According to the report, the Ministry paid salaries to two deceased staff members whose personal identification numbers were 356905 and 107435, despite having received official death notifications. The Audit Service stated that the death of one staff member was reported to the Ministry in January 2024, while the other was reported in May 2024. However, their names remained on the payroll, and salary payments continued until December 2024.
The audit disclosed that a total of NLe102,000 was paid to one deceased staff member and NLe10,766 to the other from the dates of their deaths to the end of the year. The Audit Service Sierra Leone noted that the Human Resources Directorate of the Ministry failed to notify the Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) and the Accountant-General’s Department to stop the salaries immediately after the staff members died.
The report described the payments as “a waste of government scarce resources” and attributed the situation to weak internal controls within the Ministry. It recommended that the Director of Human Resources ensure that the names of the deceased staff are removed from the payroll immediately and that the Ministry liaises with the HRMO and the Accountant-General’s Department to recover the salaries paid after their deaths.
The Audit Service also called for the establishment and implementation of a formal internal control procedure to ensure timely notification of staff deaths and prevent similar occurrences in the future.
In a related finding, the audit revealed that 38 staff members under the Ministry, identified by their pin codes, were not available for physical verification during the 2024 financial year. Despite their absence, these staff members received a total net salary of NLe1,891,499.
The Audit Service Sierra Leone warned that salaries may have been paid to non-existing staff from whose services the Ministry did not benefit. It recommended that the Director of Human Resources request the affected staff to present themselves for physical verification and work with the HRMO and the Accountant-General’s Department to recover salaries paid to those who could not be verified.
The findings are contained in the Audit Service Sierra Leone 2024 Report, which examines the use of public funds across government institutions and highlights weaknesses in financial management and accountability within the public sector.
