In Africa, thousands of ghost civil servants still benefit from governments’ outdated management systems. To tackle the issue, some countries on the continent have turned to new technologies.

Guinea launched last week, August 16, a biometric enrolment campaign targeting officials and contract civil servants.

The campaign was launched by the Minister of Labor and Public Works, Julien Yombouno. Set to last 44 days, it started from the Ministry of Labor and will extend to other ministries over the period. Over 87,000 civil servants are expected to be enrolled.

“The main goal is to determine the real headcount of the civil service. With the accurate figures, we will be able to calculate exactly how much the State pays its civil servants every month. The end goal, however, is to establish a single administrative and accounting registry,” Yombouno explained. 

According to the Minister, the single biometric registry will regroup the data of all Guinean civil servants and contract employees, thus guaranteeing "a single agent, a single registration number, and a single salary".

The government picked Digitalis, a local startup, to carry out the project. The company develops biometric applications and software.

Enrolled civil servants will get a receipt after registering. They will later exchange the receipt for their professional card.

Like Guinea, several African countries have recently turned to technology to flush out ghost workers and put an end to the payment of undue wages. The aim is to clean up the civil service and remove the ghost workers who cost African countries tens of billions of CFA francs every year.

Samira Njoya