The Namibian government is spending millions of dollars each quarter on paying out leave days to civil servants, with a significant portion of these claims suspected to be fraudulent.
This was revealed by the Chairperson of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Salmaan Jacobs, who is calling for urgent reforms to curb the growing financial losses.
Jacobs told The Brief that the PSC recently conducted a study covering the months of July, August and September 2024, which showed that more than N$11 million was paid out in leave day claims during that three-month period alone.
“Government is spending a lot of money on paying out leave days. We are concerned about it. And we wanted to tell all the offices, ministries and agencies (OMAs) to manage their leave days,” he said.
“More than N$11 million was claimed during that time, which is alarming.”
He explained that the bulk of the problem stems from the absence of an automated system to monitor and manage public servants’ attendance and leave records.
“Government is spending a lot of money on unbudgeted issues like leave, for example; where people stay away from work and claim leave,” Jacobs said.
“If these things are properly recorded, such as entry and exit into the public service, leave days – everything will be on the system. Therefore, someone would not be on leave and later claim that they were not on leave.”
Jacobs noted that some employees exploit the manual system by failing to report leave properly, only to later demand payment for unused days.
“That is why we are saying, if the process had been automated, this would not be taking place, because we currently don’t have the information that would enable us to control the entire system,” he said.
There are currently over 107,000 civil servants on government’s payroll, with the public wage bill standing at around N$35.4 billion in the previous financial year. This figure includes benefits and a recent 5% salary increment.
Jacobs also pointed to challenges posed by existing labour legislation, which obliges government to pay out unused leave days when employees exit the public service, regardless of whether the leave was recorded or has lapsed.
“The Labour Act requires government to pay out someone’s unused leave days when they leave the public service. Whether they lapsed or not, I must pay them. We are busy with that dilemma currently and we are trying to get out of it by suggesting amendments to the Labour Act,” he said.
“Some people capitalise on that and then come up with all kinds of excuses not to record their leave days and in that way, government is losing.”
Jacobs previously indicated that the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology is in the process of drafting legislation aimed at digitalising several public service processes, including recruitment and leave day management.
He stressed that digitisation would bring accountability and efficiency, helping to prevent abuse and close existing loopholes in the system.
