By Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh

The deputy minister of information and Communications Thursday physically handed over salaries of staff at the government owned Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service in Freetown .

The action by deputy minister of information and communications Mohamed Koroma came after he investigated and realized that ghost workers who operated bank accounts had received salaries without work.

Making the payments Koroma said for the past ten years or so, salaries have been paid to ghost workers that do not exist in the station, but whose names always appear on payroll.

He said the ministry has done all it could to compile the total names of workers to minimize leakage and prompt payment. “And let me make this clear that any name that is not on this list here today will not receive any salary,” he cautioned before payment started.

He added that of the 73 people whose names appeared on the list, payment for 33 was pending until the director general and consultant of SLBS. Dr. Alusine Sesay approves of their entitlement.

He said nine million four hundred and ninety six thousand three hundred and seventy five leones was disbursed for the said payment.

Koroma said out of this salary, people get rent allowances, school fees for their children and other things.

He stressed the purpose of the exercise, which he said was not to witch hunt anybody, but to exhibit transparency in the payment of salaries to deserving people.