By CHATULA KAMPO –
ONLY 38 teachers out of 1,600 who were alleged to be ‘ghost’ workers on the payroll have not been cleared, Ministry of Education spokesperson Hillary Chipango has said.
Mr Chipango said the verification exercise of the alleged ghost teachers had concluded and only 38 were not cleared due to the wrong documents they submitted during the verification exercise in their respect districts.
This means that these teachers will not receive their salaries until they are cleared.
Mr Chipango said 15 teachers were from Eastern,13 Copperbelt, four from Lusaka, three in Northern, two Central and only one in the Southern Province.
“We have finished the verification exercise,” Mr Chipango said. “Only 38 teachers were not cleared during the exercise because they submitted wrong documents.”
Mr Chapango assured the remaining teachers that they would also be cleared by the ministry and urged them to be patient.
He said the remaining teachers had started receiving salaries and their accounts had since been unblocked.
The verification exercise, that started two months ago, was undertaken by the Public Service Management Divison (PSMD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, the Zambia National Teachers Union (ZNUT) is happy that its members whose accounts were frozen had started receiving salaries.
ZNUT general secretary Newman Bubala last week commended the Ministry of Education on the verification exercise of the alleged ghost teachers on the payroll.
“We are happy that the majority of our members that were affected have started receiving their salaries,” Mr Bubala said. “We appeal to the ministry to ensure that all those that are remaining get cleared.”