‘Egregious Discrepancies’ -New CSA DG Avows Austerity Actions To Improve Public Service

MONROVIA: The bulwark of a successful governance regime, according to development experts, is found in the quality and efficiency of the civil service. But that does not come from the vacuum; it is hinged on intentional civil service management (CSM) – the process of recruiting, selecting, training, developing, compensating and managing public sector employees. Nevertheless, there have been crippling challenges to Liberia’s civil service regime particularly since the 1980 revolution. Political establishment after another shared blame for the politicization of the civil service by politicians whose mode of CSM is largely informed by clannish or politically parochial considerations and interests. Following years of disorder, it seems hopes are rising on the horizon; courtesy of the new Director General who is sounding militant and revolutionary in his desire to restore dignity to the Civil Service Agency (CSA) which has fiduciary responsibility to support government’s production efforts with qualified, integrity-obsessed public employees. The Analyst reports.

If the electrifying maiden public utterances by the new Director General of the Civil service Agency (CSA) are anything to go by, then there comes hope that the long-bloated, politically impregnated and failed CSA is on its way out of life-support.

The CSA, established in 1973 by an Act of the Legislature to increase efficiency in the civil service and also act as the central personnel agency of Government ministries, agencies and corporations, took a nosedive from the integrity institution it was meant to be to a heavily politicized and factionalized agency having colossal liability on Government.

But it seems Mr. Josiah F. Joekai, Jr., the new guy on the bloc in charge of the CSA, is not taking the chronic anomalies lying down.

In a revolutionarily charged tune as he spoke at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing March 26, 2024, DG Joekai said the Government of Liberia, led by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., was steadfast in its commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance in public finance management.

To this end, he noted the pressing need for sustained reforms within the civil service, averring to embark on a decisive journey to overhaul the workforce of the government for enhanced transparency, efficiency, and productivity.

“Today, it is glaringly evident that widespread discrepancies, inefficiencies, and irregularities plague our civil service,” he growled.

“As highlighted during my induction ceremony, I assumed responsibility for an excessively bloated payroll, encompassing 67,746 personnel across 103 governmental spending entities. This translates to an alarming average monthly wage expenditure of US$23,543,874.64.”

To illustrate the magnitude of the issue, he indicated that the CSA conducted a basic employee headcount exercise at select spending entities which yielded troubling results, such as at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs where a significant portion of the workforce, represented by 69 individuals, could not be properly accounted for.

This, he said, strongly suggests the presence of ghost employees, pairing the MOS situation to a similar exercise at the Liberia National Police where 98 employees remained untraceable, raising suspicions of fictitious personnel on the payroll.

Mr. Joekai said regular internal controls audits and assessments conducted by the Internal Audit Agency “consistently unveil numerous detrimental issues persistently undermining the integrity and efficiency of the civil service.”

He identified a number of findings, including but not limited to payments to individuals or personnel for services not rendered, indicating instances of fraudulent payments; payments issued to ghost employees, resulting in substantial financial losses due to fraud, wastage, and misappropriation of funds and Violation of chapter 7/Section 2.5 of the Standing Orders of 2012 by paying full salaries to employees on study leaves.

He also highlighted some of the critical issues as unauthorized absences from official duties, with illegitimate or no excuses provided to cover up these instances and the continued payment of salaries to employees who have left their positions due to resignation, dismissal, redundancy, or death highlights serious flaws in payroll management and public finance accountability.

Joekai also went deeper to highlight the astronomical amount spent on consultancy services by the past administration which he put at a whopping US$6.1m alone; something he said does not reflect the quality of the job or consultancy provided.

Taking the CSA as a case study, he said a review was conducted and an alarming result garnered showed that out of the folders of 18 consultants selected, employed, and remunerated “none of the 18 consultants received a contract until after 9 months into the so-called annual engagement”.

He further stated that of the 18 consultants, eight did not have a valid contract in their folders, only 12 consultants participated in a headcount exercise and the remaining 6 did not show up to date and are still unaccounted for despite receiving payments.

“In short, they are ghosts, and no reports for services provided; no performance appraisal reports; no timesheets, and no Terms of Reference (ToRs).”

Mr. Joekai continued: “The revelation of these disparities underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to rectify these egregious discrepancies and prevent further misuse of public funds. Such reforms are imperative to restore our civil service’s efficiency, responsiveness, and integrity and ensure accountability and transparency.

“Consequently, the Civil Service Agency (CSA) has taken decisive action by requesting the General Auditing Commission (GAC) to examine payroll compliance across all 103 spending entities forensically. This audit, covering the period January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023, will provide vital insights into the extent of financial mismanagement and irregularities within the system.”

He said as a measure towards a paradigm shift towards prudent management of state resources that will yield results, the CSA has proposed a consultancy budget allocation of US$2,000,000 for the upcoming fiscal period, reflecting an impressive savings of US$4.1 million.

“This fiscal prudence, coupled with implementing the brand-new consultancy policy guidelines, promises to yield substantial dividends for the government,” he said, adding: “With this austerity measure, the government can now redirect the 4.1 million savings to other basic services including education, agriculture, health care, and sanitation, consistent with the ARREST Agenda.”

According to him, in as much as reforms were necessary in public service, it was also expedient that such should begin at the CSA.

“He who comes with equity must come with clean hands,” he asserted, indicating further that over the last six years, the government and its partners spent millions of United States Dollars on projects intended to modernize critical human resource management systems, including payroll, performance management, testing, employment, and pension.

The new CSA boss said: “For example, the World Bank spent over US$10,000,000(Ten Million) on the Public Sector Modernization Project (PSMP). Several other government entities received hundreds of thousands of dollars from our own and foreign taxpayers to implement different aspects of the project. So, it is only befitting that we gain full insight into the project’s success and failure measures.

“Against this backdrop, we have requested the GAC conduct a forensic system and financial audit of the CSA’s governance and fiscal operations, including government funding and donor support, from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2023. This audit is expected to be part of scheduled audits beginning July 2024, which will be covered in the GAC’s budget. We profoundly thank the GAC for this support”, he said.

While being grateful to the country’s development partners, especially the World Bank for the previous payroll audit in 2021, he lamented that despite the recommendations made during that audit, implementation did not follow suit, underscoring the necessity for the forthcoming payroll examination and the CSA’s audit.

“I am delighted that the CSA is collaborating closely with the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to finalize the payroll automation process. This initiative involves transitioning our payroll system from the highly manipulated Alternative Temporary Automated Pay System (ATAPS) to the more efficient and modern Civil Service Management system. This transition marks a significant 100-day deliverable milestone of President Boakai’s administration to streamline our payroll management procedures, greatly minimizing human intervention and reducing instances of waste and abuse of public finance.

“Moreover, while transitioning to the new system, we intend to keep the ATAPs version of the payroll accessible specifically during the upcoming essential payroll compliance audit and the CSA system and financial audit to ensure that all payroll-related discrepancies are appropriately captured during these audits”, he said.

Joekai who is also an accomplished authors of many books including thoughts on reforming a functional civil service said he has “meticulously drafted comprehensive policy guidelines to transform the selection, employment, and management of consultants and consulting firms across the government” He said the policy when completed in about two weeks will be officially launched by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, marking a significant departure from the immediate past corrupt consultancy practices.

While outlining some of the immediate actions taken to reform the civil service, Joekai said the Civil Service Agency has blocked the salaries and subsequently removed from the payroll all individuals employed as of December 18, 2023, in violation of former President George Manneh Weah’s directive to suspend all new employment and service contracts across government institutions and additionally, the CSA will work with all spending entities concerned to reverse all promotions and salary increments during the period of the presidential directive.

“Regarding personnel headcounts conducted at the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs, Liberia National Police, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the CSA has also blocked on their payrolls with immediate effect employees not accounted for, pending the conclusion of the verification exercises.

“Also, the CSA has realized that several individuals on the payroll receiving pay whose personnel action notices (PAN) have not been completed in keeping with Chapter 3, section 4.4 of the Civil Service Standing Orders of 2012. You may be interested to know that several individuals were placed on the payroll through emails, matrices, and phone calls. Consequently, the CSA is thoroughly reviewing the payroll and incomplete personnel action notices of the individuals concerned for further action.

He also spoke of strategic reform measures that are in place for the immediate term, stating, “We are confident that the government will achieve significant cost savings and optimize the value derived from sanitizing the payroll and consultancy engagements, ultimately ensuring that taxpayers’ money is utilized judiciously and effectively.”