Liberia News: FEAR GRIPS CIVIL SERVANTS

…As CSA Launches Headcount To Regularize Employee's Status

By: Perry B. Zordyu

Monrovia-May-21-TNR:Civil Servants are said to be bemoaning plans by the Civil Service Agency (CSA) to initial a head-count exercise, about two months after they were subjected to Personnel Assessment Initiative intended to regularize their status.

A month into President Boakai’s presidency, the government mandated the General Auditing Commission, CSA and Governance Commission to conduct a thorough assessment of all employees of government on Government of Liberia Payroll to determine whether they legitimately hired and processed through the CSA regime.

The CSA, in an effort to avoid business as usual in various government sectors and agencies, has launched a headcount exercise at the central offices of the 103 spending entities.

The headcount is a part of Employee’s Status Regularization Project (ESRP) that is coordinated through the office of Director of Research Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to help ensure a clean system of the entity.

The move according to the CSA, is intended to help the agency identify legitimate government employees through physical headcount, collect data for missing fields in the Alternative Temporary Payment System (ATAPS) and Civil Management System (CSM).

Speaking during the launch, the head of the exercise, Isaac G.F. Gorvego said the process will cover all one hundred and three (103) government spending entities and is expected to last for about thirty (30) days across the country beginning June 2024.

Mr. Gorvego noted that it will be a robust exercise but cautioned employees of government spending entities to act in accordance with the team something he said will pave a way for a smooth and cleanness of government payroll and will enable national government prioritize needed investment.

He named CSA, Mines & Energy, LIPA, Ministry of Education, and National Center for the Coordination of Response Mechanism (NCCRM) as places the exercise has already commenced.

Meanwhile, the head of the team pointed out that the Liberia Land Authority, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Public Works are sectors that are ongoing with the process.

It can be recalled that the head of the Civil Service Agency, Josiah Joekai pledged during his induction ceremony to help combat corruption and bring sensitive to government entities and one of which is to thoroughly clean the already manipulated payroll of government filled with ghost names to regularize employees’ status.

Mr. Joekai in his induction speech, stressed that he and his team has come to present a vivid pictures of government accountability and ensure that President Joseph Boakai’s slogan, ‘No Business As Usual,’ is fully utilized under his watch as Director-General of the lone government entity that seeks welfare of civil servants across the country.

At the same time, cross-section of citizens have commended the latest move by the CSA describing same as an incentive and greatest endeavor ever in the history of the civil servants but pleaded with the CSA to extend the duration of the time due to contingencies.

Some of the citizens expressed delight in the agency saying it will bring to an end an age old problem that engulf the entity for years while cautioning urged the agency to extend the process to the leeward counties and every part of the country to have a proper and clear cleaning of government payroll.

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