Dept conducts audits

THE Personnel Management Department will conduct manpower and organisation audits on five government agencies to address ghost names on the state payroll, Public Service Minister Westly Nukundj says.
Nukundj said the audits would be done on the Works Department, Western Highlands health authority, National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (Naqia) and the Hela government. “This exercise is aimed at ensuring that a person gets paid for his or her job,” he said.
“Work has already begun on the Department of Works and Naqia.
“A team from the Department of Personnel Management are already on site at the Western Highlands health authority and have begun auditing.
“The audit will cover manpower and staffing, organisational structure and the agency payroll.”
Nukundj said the audit’s purpose was to determine the extent of abuse, if any, and of any instances of non-compliance present in the organisations and confirm the names and total number of employees on both the payroll information and personnel records.
He said visual records would be kept in order for employees to be identified.
In the case of the Western Highlands health authority, the audit team would also visit the rural health centres and community aid posts to assess them and recommend appropriate corrective measures.
“The audit will also involve physical checks on officers registered,” he said.