Bust the ghosts in the public service payroll
Raymond Moses Malinga. PHOTO | MARIA JACINTA KANNYANGE
What you need to know:
The issue: Ghost workers
Our view: Such reports point to the undeniable fact that Malinga’s case is just a drop in the ocean.
This greed, theft, and selfishness must be nipped in the bud. Malinga and other complainants deserve to be heard and their cases sorted conclusively, not threatened and harassed into silence.
The story of Raymond Moses Malinga, a policeman who spent 8 years without salary, is sad and infuriating at the same time. According to the story which was published in our Thursday, May 15 2025 edition, Raymond Moses Malinga, who joined the police force in 2007, realized he had been struck off the payroll in 2015. He says a note was inserted into his file naming a new beneficiary.
During this time, he lived off loans and handouts from family members to take care of his six children, who eventually dropped out of school due to failure to pay school fees. After years of meeting and petitioning several authorities, in 2022, he was reinstated on the payroll by the commissioner for personnel. His arrears amounted to shs42 million. But he says that payment of this money was again channeled to a ghost file.
He now faces harassment and threats from some of the higher-ups who he confided in. He seems to be resigned to never getting that money back. Never mind that he is very indebted and risks arrest because of non-payment, and a piece of land he owns will be attached soon due to failure to pay back a loan. That is the unfortunate story of a 43-year-old policeman who is a victim of theft and greed in public service.
This is how the system has chosen to pay him back for his service to the community. One cannot help but wonder why we act shocked when people like him, who have been treated this way, turn around and harm the very community they swore to protect. We hope that Malinga’s case will be dealt with conclusively, and that money, if it is rightfully his, reimbursed and the culprits brought to book if possible, otherwise, this script will always keep playing out; same script, different cast.
The issue of ghosts on payrolls must be dealt with if we are to effectively fight theft of taxpayers' hard-earned money. The Auditor General in September last year revealed that hundreds of ghost officers were receiving salaries. An investigation, conducted by the CID, focused on 695 suspected ghost police officers who were allegedly being paid despite not being part of the active workforce. Findings showed that these 605 officers were still receiving monthly salaries totaling Shs 355 million per month, and Shs 4.26 billion annually.
The probe targeted salary payments between 2019-2023. Such reports point to the undeniable fact that Malinga’s case is just a drop in the ocean. This greed, theft, and selfishness must be nipped in the bud. Malinga and other complainants deserve to be heard and their cases sorted conclusively, not threatened and harassed into silence.
