New system to eliminate thousands of “ghost” civil servants

The new identification system for civil servants launched recently by the Yemeni government should eliminate an estimated 60,000 ‘ghost’ workers and help to reduce corruption, officials said. “We have been talking about the problem of multi-dippers for five years and prepared programmes, spending a lot of money to eliminate it,” said President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who launched the project on 7 September. “This time I am optimistic that all government institutions will cooperate to eliminate [it].” Cleaning up the employment rolls would result in 60,000 new positions that can be filled by university graduates, he added. “There are people who hold multiple jobs in the civil service, the military or security and there are others who hold more than one job in two sectors within the civil service,” Minister of Civil Service and Insurance Hamoud al-Sufi said “There are people who receive salaries without performing any job,” he added. “But I am sure that after six months this problem will be eliminated.” Funded by the World Bank, the 4 million euro project is a continuation of a reform package started in 1995 to modernise Yemen’s civil service. It focuses on the creation of institutions, capacity, and systems for sustained human and financial resource development, according to the World Bank. “The performance of the current public administration is seriously deficient. This is caused by inadequacies in areas of personnel management, programming, planning and budgeting, to mention a few,” Mustapha Rouis, World Bank country manager in Yemen, said during the launch. The new system, which uses pictures and finger prints, commences in October after the president asked the civil service ministry to allow 30 days for those in multiple employment to choose one job. According to the minister, it had not been easy to identify the problem because of lack of a computerised database. As a result, the government payroll had soared to more than 470,000 –costing over 15 percent of GDP in 2005. “People having multiple jobs [create] a good environment for corruption. And when we target it, we target the interests of many people,” the minister said. “This is why we are harshly criticised by people and sometimes by media, but we are very serious about it.” “We have already saved US $15 million from 10,000 employees who have already resigned from one of their jobs,” he added. Multiple employment was recognised as a serious challenge by the country’s civil service ministry in 2002 when some 16,000 “multi-dippers and ghost workers” were identified. An attempt to resolve the problem failed amidst complaints by those affected and 90 percent of them returned to their jobs. Under the new system, the minister said, the government would establish a computerised database, set up 22 local information centres, improve capacity and curb bureaucracy.