MONROVIA – An investigation into the recent payroll controversy at the House of Representatives, which led to a delay in salary payments for the central administration staff, has raised serious concerns over why the Civil Service Agency (CSA) opted to maintain an outdated payroll that included the name of a deceased employee and others no longer employed at the Legislature.
In an August 5 communication to the House, CSA Director General Josiah Joekai explained that the delay in the payment of central administration staff salaries was due to irregularities stemming from the hiring and addition of new employees without the involvement of the CSA. He accused the House of submitting an unauthorized payroll to the Ministry of Finance after the CSA had already submitted its approved payroll. The new payroll, according to him, contained names of new employees in central administration whose employment were not approved by the CSA. Joekai cited that this action violated Chapter 5, Section 2.3 of the Standing Orders. He noted that the additional hires increased the payroll from US$284,401.05 to US$327,643 monthly—a difference of US$43,241.05.
However, The Liberian Investigator gathered that the leadership of the House of Representatives had conducted a payroll audit, reducing the number of employees from 787 to 749. Despite this effort, a recent investigation uncovered 51 questionable names still listed on the payroll, including those of the LPRC operations manager and a deceased staff member. These names were removed from the second payroll the CSA refused to honor.
Notable among the questionable names on the payroll rather honoreed by the CSA are J. Sam T. G. Siakor, Yeakeh Sayequee, Gabriel Swen (deceased), Anthony Moore (Press Officer Supervisor), Tatee Morris (Steward), Emmanuel T. Mar (Executive Secretary), Benjamin Kulleh (Janitor), and Nyalah Gray.
Gabriel Swen, who served as a filing clerk, passed away in February, yet the CSA approved his salary, though he was not present for the recent headcount. Additionally, Yeakeh Sayequee, who was appointed operations manager five months ago at the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company (LPRC), admitted to receiving salaries for five months as a staff of the Liberian Legislature while serving in his new role at LPRC.
In a Facebook post, Sayequee clarified the situation:
“I want to clarify that I did not receive $2,500 while working at the central administration of the legislature. Instead, my salary was $262.80 USD and 12,713 Liberian dollars.
Upon securing a position at LPRC, I promptly submitted my letter of appointment to the House of Representatives, specifically to the HR office, to formally notify them of my promotion by the Managing Director. During this interaction, I informed the relevant authorities about the situation and was told that the CSA had issued a directive halting new hirings or removals from the payroll until the GAC payroll audit and CSA headcount process were completed.
Since March, I have been receiving salary payments into both my USD and Liberian dollar accounts. I have diligently withdrawn and transferred the five months of salary to the Government of Liberia’s payroll account.”
The Liberian Investigator further gathered that these continuous payments were made even though the House had authorized the CSA to conduct a headcount of its staff to verify the payroll and remove ghost names.
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