Fake Names, Real Money: How Ghost Workers Bleed Sierra Leone’s Budget

By Musa Paul Feika

Across Sierra Leone’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), government money keeps flowing out of the Treasury but too often, it doesn’t reach the real workers it is meant for.
Ghost workers fake or duplicate names on the government payroll continue to drain millions of Leones from public funds every year.

Salaries meant for teachers, nurses, and other frontline workers are being collected by people who don’t exist, while communities are left to suffer the consequences.
“We saw the road in our town never fixed while ‘staff’ in the ministry were still collecting salaries. How can that be fair? My children’s school needs books, but the money is gone,” said Mariatu Kargbo, a trader at Bombay Market in Freetown.

A frustrated civil servant, speaking on condition of anonymity, described what happens inside government offices. “Every month I log in and see more names than there are desks. It’s demoralizing when real workers go unpaid while the system pays ghosts.”

Public finance analyst Musa Brima warned that ghost workers not only waste public funds but also encourage political corruption. “They are often used to reward political allies or enrich middlemen. When payroll systems are manual and poorly managed, the opportunity for abuse is always there,” he said.
The impact on ordinary people is clear underfunded hospitals, delayed teacher salaries, and poor delivery of basic services.
A Persistent Problem
Despite several audits and government promises to fix the problem, ghost workers continue to appear on the payroll.

In 2023 Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL) report, revealed that some people were still being paid even after they had resigned, retired, or died.
“It’s painful to know that fake names are collecting salaries while real people are struggling for jobs,” said Mariatu Conteh, a university graduate said.

In Freetown, civil servant Sorie Sesay said the problem persists because insiders benefit from it, assuring that “Ghost workers are not created by mistake. They are deliberately added by payroll officers, accountants, and sometimes senior officials who share the money. It’s organized theft.”

Experts say the ghost worker crisis reflects a deeper culture of corruption and weak accountability.
“When people see corruption going unpunished, they lose faith in government. Ghost workers are not just about stolen money they represent moral decay in governance,” Josephine Bangura, an anti-corruption activist noted.

Government Response
The government has tried to address the issue through biometric registration, verification exercises, and payroll audits. In 2024, the Ministry of Finance introduced a digital payroll system linking workers’ data to their National Identification Number (NIN).
“The new system will ensure that only verified workers are paid and that every name on the payroll is traceable to a real person,” said ministry spokesman Mohamed Kargbo.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has also warned that anyone caught maintaining ghost names or collecting unearned salaries will be prosecuted.
But civil society groups say technology alone is not enough. “We can have all the digital systems, but without the political will to punish corrupt officers, ghost workers will reappear,” said Samuel Tucker, Director of the Campaign for Good Governance (CGG).

Moving forward, experts and citizens alike are calling for full digitalization, transparency, and accountability in the payroll system.
“Digital tools should be used not just for verification but also to track attendance and performance in real time. Every employee should have a digital profile linked to their NIN and work record.”
an ICT consultant, Fatmata Jalloh asserted.

Civil society advocate James Koroma added: “Technology is important, but it must go hand in hand with strong ethics and enforcement. If someone manipulates the system, they must face justice.”
Many Sierra Leoneans also believe payroll information and audit results should be made public, allowing citizens to help monitor government spending.
To end the ghost worker problem, experts recommend the following regular independent payroll audits, strict prosecution of offenders, linking payroll data to attendance and performance, publishing payroll information online, rewarding whistleblowers who expose fraud and expanding the digital payroll system to all MDAs and local councils.

As the government faces tighter budgets and growing public demands, tackling ghost workers may be one of the simplest ways to save money and rebuild public trust.
“It’s time for real names to earn real money. We need a payroll system that serves the people not ghosts.”said steacher Ibrahim Conteh of Kissy Road.