Tanzanian government saves $8mln after crackdown on ghost workers

The government of Tanzania said on Saturday it has saved about 8 million US dollars in the past two months following a crackdown on ghost civil servants.

Angela Kairuki, the Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Good Governance and Public Service Management, said the money could have been paid to more than 8,000 ghost workers as salaries and allowances for March and April.

Kairuki told the National Assembly in the east African nation's political capital of Dodoma that the over 8,000 ghost workers were exposed in the two months following a directive by President John Magufuli.

She said at least 1,614 ghost workers were exposed within the central government and 6,622 were exposed from local government authorities.

"We are continuing with a survey to expose more ghost workers, and so far we are doing very well. No single stone will be left unturned in exposing them," said Kairuki.

Early this month, President Magufuli said more than 5,000 ghost workers had been detected in the ongoing countrywide crackdown.

He said more than 4,000 ghost workers were identified in local government authorities while more than 1,000 were found in the central government.

According to President Magufuli, the government spends 291 million US dollars every month on paying salaries for civil servants.

He said an estimated 27 million U.S. dollars were apparently being paid to phantom workers.