Payroll audit on ghost teachers underway in Namibia

Namibia's Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture is carrying out a payroll audit aimed at rooting out the alleged ghost teachers siphoning money from the ministry.

"The payroll audit is the step that the Ministry has taken to address the issue of ghost teachers," said Sanet Steenkamp, permanent secretary in the Ministry, on Thursday.

The nationwide staff verification exercise, which commenced in November 2016 is being conducted by the 14 Regional Directorates of Education, Arts and Culture by a team, led by an inspector of education, human resource practitioners and accountants.

"So far, seven regions have submitted the reports, and other regions are expected to submit their reports. The reports will be analyzed," Steenkamp said.

Explaining the procedure, Steenkamp added that once the summarizing and analysis process of the report has been completed, the Ministry will then produce a consolidated report on the findings to inform the Ministry and stakeholders accordingly.

"The consolidated report on the findings will certainly guide and provide recommendations on the way forward. We pledge our commitment in addressing challenges facing the Ministry," she concluded.

In the past, an assessment conducted by audit firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2015 revealed that the Ministry was paying salaries to more than 6,000 ghost teachers. Enditem