Biometric register for Zimbabwe civil servants in 2019

GOVERNMENT is going to put in place a time-lined raft of measures which include developing a biometric register of all civil servants on Government payroll as it moves to tighten screws in its quest to weed out ghost workers with effect from 1 January 2019, the Minister Of Finance Mthuli Ncube said.

According to Zim Techreview, Ncube said, "Mr Speaker, Sir, previous Civil Service Audits undertaken by Government in 2011 and 2015, respectively, point to possible existence of ghost workers in the service, who are contributing to the burgeoning public service wage bill which accounts for over 90% of total revenues. Clearly, this goes against the thrust of re-orienting Budget expenditures towards growth enhancing and poverty reducing developmental programmes and projects through rationalisation of the Public Service Wage Bill. Mr Speaker Sir, to weed out these ghost workers, I propose to introduce a biometric registration of all civil servants, with effect from 1 January 2019."

This is in line with what President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in one of his weekly columns, where he reiterated the need for cut-throat measures that would ensure that Government expenditure is reduced.

"A time-lined raft of measures on that front will be announced soon, including an exercise in developing a biometric register of all civil servants on Government payroll which should eliminate leakages through ghost workers," he said.