The presidential advisor on military affairs says the number of ghost names on the SPLA payroll may be more than that of the actual soldiers.

Daniel Awet Akot blames the presence of ghost names on lack of proper registration.

To end corruption in the military, Mr Akot said those involved must be punished:

“It is not that it is too huge; there are so many ghost names. Ghost names are more than the army itself,” he said.

Mr. Akot says up to now, there is no data base showing details of the number of soldiers in the country.

“Up to now …there are no registrations since it [the army] was started. This is where you can know the number of people – how many are dead, how many are alive, but there is no number of soldiers. These are some of the things to be corrected,” he said.

“Yes this goes to the laws that if we don’t punish, such things will happen. There is no any maximum punishment I have seen.”

Mr. Akot says up to now, the total number of soldiers in the SPLA is not known.