James Chiusiwa, Principle secretary for the Ministry of Local government has asked Chitipa District Commissioner (DC) Macmillan Magomero to report the matter of alleged 17 ghost workers to the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
In May this year, reports indicated that Chitipa district council lost funds amounting to K10 million after 17 “ghost workers” were introduced on the payroll and received salaries for four months from January this year.
According to Chiusiwa, the ministry is failing to determine its stand on the alleged ghost workers at the council hence the call.
He then told Magomero to get a report for the ministry to map way forward on the matter.
In his remarks, Magomero said the council is yet to receive a report from the graft-busting body.
In an interview with one of the local media houses, Minister of the local government Blessings Chinsinga said these kind of frauds are an indication of leadership crisis in the councils.
“This is giving decentralization a bad name. We had to decentralize the payroll with the hope that its management will be efficient, but then we have these cases.
“Some of these challenges are a result of the kind of leadership we have in councils. I called for the CVs [curriculum vitae] because we want to have a complete overhaul of the leadership in councils to improve on efficiency, including payroll management.” Chinsinga said in an interview with Nation newspaper in May this year.
