Nearly 24 million dalasis were mistakenly paid out to nonexistent staff members, commonly referred to as “ghost workers,” across three government ministries in The Gambia—Basic Education, Health, and Agriculture.
The revelation came from the Minister of Public Service, Baboucarr Bouy, during a session at the National Assembly. He explained that a total of D23,976,258 was disbursed over a period of three months through 16 financial institutions to 1,430 individuals who could not be identified within the ministries’ official records.
Efforts to recover the funds have yielded limited success. So far, only about D2 million has been recovered. The minister reported that authorities moved to freeze the accounts involved, but in many cases, the money had already been withdrawn before the freeze orders could be enforced.
In one instance, a bank received over D7 million but was only able to return D1.6 million to the government, as the rest had already been withdrawn. Some banks also insisted that they needed either customer consent or a court order to release any remaining funds, which prompted the ministry to involve the Solicitor General in securing the necessary legal authorization.
Despite these setbacks, the government remains committed to recovering the lost funds. The minister assured lawmakers that legal action will be taken against the individuals involved if necessary.
