MONROVIA – The Senate ad-hoc committee chaired by Senator Alphonso Gaye (UP-Grand Gedeh County) which was charged with the responsibility to investigate staffer complaint of salary deduction has called for an independent audit of the Senate staffer payroll.
Mr. Gaye said he believes the payroll submitted is a scam.
The ad-hoc committee observed disparity in the Senate staffer payroll and salary allotment. The ad-committee report also discovered that currently the Senate has more than eight hundred employees.
Sen. Gaye: “We also observed disparity in the payroll where employees of the same status are making more than their colleagues in other departments. The most frustrating thing we saw is that there is an office manager in an office of a Senator who makes more than a chief of office staff to a Senator and that is something that needs to be reviewed.
“Another thing that we uncovered is that we looked at the terms of references of these positions and established that we have 19 drivers on the payroll with the exception of the budget and operation departments all other departments have drivers ranging from one driver to four drivers even though since those departments were founded not a motorbike has been assigned to those department.”
The three-man committee which comprise Senator Gaye (Grand Gedeh County), Abraham Darius Dillon (LP-Montserrado County), and Henrique Tokpah (Bong County) also recommended protection for the staffers of the Senate such that they would not be affected by the government’s salary harmonization.
“We also observed disparity in the payroll where employees of the same status are making more than their colleagues in other departments. The most frustrating thing we saw is that there is an office manager in an office of a Senator who makes more than a chief of office staff to a Senator and that is something that needs to be reviewed.”
– Senator Alphonso Gaye
They also recommended the need to mobilize additional resources of over US$600,000 to be paid to staffers retroactively.
According to the committee’s report, the additional envelop will restore staffers to their previous position before the harmonization.
“The total workforce of 802 employees appears to be very huge and outrageous in responsibility of each of the department and the work environment, so it appears that the payroll issue is a scam so the payroll needs to be cleaned up.”