MOGADISHU (SD) – Somalia has for the first time launch a program to review and upgrade the payment and grade structures of the civil servants in what the government said was aimed at streaming personnel accountability in the public sector.

Prime minister Mohamed Hussein Roble who on Sunday opened a three-day meeting to discuss the program said the conference will focus on ways to make the working environment of the civil servants a conducive one.

“This conference is a major part of the wider process of building good governance and transparency in government institutions,” Roble said.

Late last year, Somalia’s intelligence agency NISA rolled out a staff audit and data collection on all civil servants.

Somalia has a total workforce of about 10,000 in the public service some of whom are seconded and paid for by donor organisations to lead the implementation of certain projects, capacity support and injection.

In 2018, Somali government launched Human Resource (HR) Audit to establish the government employee and payroll data for the first time since the 1990s. The Audit of the civil servants is aimed at smooth-running the Public sector.

There have been reports in the past of ghost workers in government protected by powerful officials.