New Details on Ntungamo Ghost Health Centers Emerge

Fresh details have emerged on ghost health centres in Ntungamo District.

A number of district officials who are familiar with what has been going on have told this publication what they consider key facts on this matter that has been making national headlines in recent months.

Available information indicates that the so-called ghost health centres were cost centres or pay stations created as dummies for accessing staff on the payroll.

The Human Resource officers were reportedly lazy to delete these dummies from the payroll after staff had had access.

The right health centres or pay stations were not reflected on the payroll. Instead it was the dummies or so called ghost pay stations that were kept there.

The staff of these cost centres or pay stations were duly recruited, deployed and were physically present and working.

Some health facilities like Itojo hospital were reflected as Itojo Health Center II with two staff and the rest of the staff reflected on dummy pay stations or ghost health centres.

The payroll only needed an update of the payroll with correct pay stations to replace the wrong and non-existent pay stations.

It has also emerged that the update of the payroll with correct pay stations was done and now all staff are getting paid salaries on pay stations where they are working.

The wrong and non-existent pay stations have since been deleted from the payroll, a source familiar with payroll matters has said.

“There were no beneficiaries from the wrong pay stations other than staff dully recruited and deployed, serving in existent health facilities,” the official emphasized.

But what exactly were these so-called ghost health centres?

The official has explained that these were cost centres or pay stations created by the system as errors like Itojo health centre II.

Also, all Health centre IIIs were reflected on the payroll as health centre IIs, and all health centre IVs were not reflected on the payroll like Kitwe HC1V, Rubaare HC1V, Rwashamire HC 1V.

“Instead these were replaced on the payroll with Rwambarata HC IV. Some cost centres or pay stations were created as dummies for accessing staff on the payroll,” the official noted.

“The Human Resource officers were lazy to delete them from the payroll after staff had been accessed. The correct health centres or pay stations were not reflected on the payroll. Instead it was the system generated errors, dummies reflected which were being referred to as ghost health centres.”

It should be remembered that the issue of ghost government employees have been a thorny one in almost all sectors.

President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s sister once revealed that there were thousands of ghost teachers on the government payroll. (See Details Here and There).

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