By Precious D. Freeman
The Director General of Civil Service Agency (CSA), Josiah Jokai, has assured the House of Representatives that no civil servants are being fired or dismissed, despite widespread speculation.
Instead, he detailed a new initiative aimed at regularizing the status of some 40,000 genuine employees identified in a recent payroll audit.
The audit revealed two groups: 19,600 employees who initiated but did not complete the mandatory Personnel Action Notices (PAN), and 20,400 employees who were placed on the payroll without starting the PAN process.
Jokai attributed these discrepancies to previous administrative oversights and said to address these issues, the CSA has launched the Employee Status Regularization Project.
This project aims to complete the PAN process for both groups, ensuring compliance with the Human Resource Policy Manual and Civil Service Standing Orders.
Detailed spreadsheets listing the names and employment particulars of the affected employees have been provided to the House Committee on Public Accounts.
Jokai emphasized that no one has been removed from the payroll due to incomplete PANs and that the CSA’s focus is on legitimizing the employment status of all civil servants, granting them rightful access to job-related benefits and security.
The reform initiative also includes implementing recommendations from the 2022 Payroll Compliance Audit Report, salary advances for civil servants, and new measures for credential verification and background checks.
This effort aligns with the Standardization and Remuneration Act, which aims to harmonize Liberia’s national payroll system.
The CSA’s commitment to transparency and accountability reflects a significant administrative shift, addressing past inefficiencies and safeguarding the rights of civil servants in Liberia.
It can be recalled that as the Civil Service Agency continues to scrutinize and clean up the payroll of individuals in the employ of government, the fate of 40,000 civil servants are said to be hanging in the balance as their statuses are said not to have been regularized from 2019 to 2023 and that the proper processing of the PAN has not been adhered to.
According to a circular issued by the CSA and signed by Director General Joekai, said it was requesting all Heads of government spending entities with government employees who were added on the payroll during the period of July 2019 to December 2023, “and whose status has not been regularized by the Civil Service Agency should work with their respective Human Resource Directors to proceed to the Civil Service Agency and have their PAN properly processed within a grace period of 90 days, beginning April 2 to June 30, 2024.”
