The Minister of Finance has discovered that government lost Shs70 billion which was paid as salaries to an estimated 4,000 ghost workers in the last financial year.

Addressing the press after appearing before the parliamentary committee on the budget, Mr Fred Omach, the Junior Finance minister, said the discovery was made after a forensic audit instituted by the ministry.

“We as the ministry are looking at the details of the audit before implementation,” Mr Omach said.

“The Shs70 billion is what the forensic audit is saying are not available (in the government coffers having been paid to ghosts).We are also in consultation with the Ministry of Public Service to see how this can be captured but we are clearing the pay roll,” the minister said.

Mr Omach said the ministry of finance requested a forensic audit to ensure that people who do not exist are not paid and to ensure value for value for money.

He had told the Parliamentary Budget committee the ministry is trying to establish who exactly is responsible for such payments.

“We would then pursue whoever took the money,” Dr Lyomoki said.

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This is not the first time the government is paying colossal amounts of money to ghost workers.In early 2000, government lost more than Shs30 billion to ghost soldiers. That loss has since become another statistic in the record of billions of shillings in taxpayers money which is every year looted through supply of air and other clever schemes devised by public officials.

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