Joseph Bakasoro, the minister of public service - courtesy

The government institution does not know the actual number of civil servants in the country, the minister of public service has said.

Former ministers blamed this on corruption, with senior officials adding names of relatives to payrolls.

This practice is common in the security sector whereby dead individuals still receive salaries.

Speaking at the Governors’ Forum in Juba, Joseph Bakasoro said his ministry is addressing the matter.

“Lack of accurate head count, how many civil servants are there? How many are we paying? How many are both names? How many are dead but still on the payroll?” Bakasoro said.

“How many are paid without a position? So there are many challenges in that, especially between us and the ministry of finance. Who are you paying? Are you paying the right people or not?

“Many people on the payroll are not productive, some are staying in the houses and then they just come and get the pay, so this is also a big challenge and to deal with that it needs time and efforts and planning.”

In 2013, the then minister of interior – Aleu Ayieny – revealed that 11,000 “ghost” names exist in the police payroll.