Amidst uncertainty in the country about the downsizing of staffers from the Ministry Of State for Presidential Affairs, Presidential Press Secretary Kula V. Fofana has clarified that it is not the case.
Speaking with reporters Friday, April 5, 2024 at the Executive Mansion in Monrovia, Madam Fofana explained, “On the issue of the 40,000 civil servants, there is a hold-on process that is ongoing. There is a review of the process, not that they will be laid out.”
“40,000 civil servants will not be laid out. Maybe it is the way people are interpreting it, but that is not the situation. The situation is that there is a review, an audit that is presently ongoing with 40,000 civil servants personnel which at the end of the audit process will know the statuses of individuals that are in that category,” the Presidential Press Secretary disclosed.
She argued that before one becomes a civil servant, he/she must have sat the civil servant test and after such, there are processes he/she must have gone through.
However, Madam Fofana has encouraged all civil servants that have been affected by the process to go through the approved process to seek readdress; adding that the government does not have resources to pay people on supplementary status or payroll.
It can be recalled on April 1, 2024, the Liberian Government through its CSA Director General Josiah Joekai disclosed that the agency has discovered over 40,000 illegal civil servants.
He said that civil servants were entered incorrectly or not at all into the Personnel Action Notice.
“There are at least 70,000 civil servants in Liberia and more than 50% are currently illegal because they did not do the PAN process,” he noted.
Joekai explained that the process comprises the full details of individuals who are entered on the government employment roster after completing evaluation and credential checks.
The CSA boss revealed that some people were placed on the civil service payroll through text messages, telephone calls, emails and WhatsApp, between 2019 and 2023.
Joekai said since these workers cannot be held responsible, they are affording them a grace period of 90 days to register properly; adding that those who fail to complete the process will be fired.
