Zambia’s Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe has ordered a clean up of the government payroll to remove all ghost and absentee workers as Zambia tries to cut down on spending to reign in mounting foreign debt.
Ghost workers refers to non-existent employees on the payroll, including ones who died but whose salaries continue to be paid out. This is a common problem in countries with weak public financial management and high levels of corruption.
Mwanakatwe said in a statement on Tuesday the controller of internal audit should work with other relevant institutions to ensure that all ghost workers on the payroll are identified and removed.
“We only need to pay deserving workers,” Mwanakatwe said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised concerns over high borrowing by Africa’s second largest copper producer.
The IMF rejected Zambia’s borrowing plans in February last year, saying they risked making its debt load harder to sustain.
In June last year, Zambia decided to delay all planned borrowing indefinitely, slowing down the accumulation of new debt amid worries about the risk of distress.
Mwanakatwe said she was confident that transparency and accountability in public finance management would significantly improve this year.