More Than 2,000 Ghost Names of Civil Servants Were Found – This Discovery Will Save the State More Than US$2 Million Each Year

More Than 2,000 Ghost Names of Civil Servants Were Found – This Discovery Will Save the State More Than US$2 Million Each Year

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 665

“Phnom Penh: The third nationwide census on civil servants is scheduled to finish in late May 2010 in order to strengthen the management of civil servants more thoroughly, and to ensure work efficiency and transparency in the public administration; now it was found that the names of more than 2,000 civil servants are against the rules on the payroll on the national level, and this discovery will help save the state about US$2 million per year.

“According to reports and information from officials of the Council for Administrative Reform received in the morning of 18 May 2010, the census on civil servants conducted at the Council of Ministers discovered that this institution itself has up to 1,803 civil servants, which is a large figure.

“Officials said that the census will end in May, and it will be conducted also at six other ministries. After that, the census teams will continue their work at the provinces in mid June 2010. Officials claimed that more than 2,000 ghost names of civil servants found will save the government more than US$2 million each year. The salary of civil servant was, on average, US$81.40 per month by February. If it is multiplied by 12 months and then by 2,000, the amount is approximately US$2 million.

“Since the first term of the National Assembly until the present, in the framework of the implementation of public administration reforms, the Royal Government has conducted a census already twice, once in 1995, and once again between 1999 and 2001. The census found out that there were many civil servants who just had their names ['ghost names'] on the salary lists, and the Royal Government decided to delete 17,685 names during the first census and 9,814 names during the second census, which helped prevent the government from wasting much money in each year.

“Based on the reports of the Council for Administrative Reform, by February 2010 the number of civil servants on the salary lists of the Council for Administrative Reform, receiving salaries in February 2010, were 176,829, 60,182 of them were women. They are classified into Group A with 28,547 civil servants; Group B with 52,706; Group C with 81,900; and Group D with 13,678 [no explanation how the Groups are defined given here].

“The average salary in February was US$81.40. The salaries are paid out in the following categories: base salaries 58.4%, special remunerations 33.1%, pedagogy funding [scholarships for trainees in teacher training] 1.8%, for child support [for children of civil servants] 1.4%, sponsoring the federation [unclear] 0.7%, support in case of accidents 0.4%, and special livelihood assistance 4.2% [no info available for the definition of the different salary sections].

“According to officials of the Council for Administrative Reform, Samdech Akkak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen will visit the census office on 28 May 2010.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5201, 19.5.2010

This article was first published by The Mirror, [3] Vol. 14, No. 665 - Wednesday, 19.5.2010
Have a look at the last editorial - you can access it directly from the main page of The Mirror. [3]

Norbert Klein is the Editor of The Mirror [4] – The Mirror is a daily comprehensive summary and translation of the major Khmer language press - More about The Mirror [5]