Uganda and Kenya are the latest to opt for biometric enrolment of civil servants. The authorities in these two East African countries cite « chronic absenteeism among civil servants, a problem that undermines many institutions in sub-Saharan Africa ». In 2010, the World Bank sounded the alarm. In a « presentation based on African development indicators », the financial institution noted that « in the education sector, for example, teacher absenteeism in some African countries is 15-25% ».
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), primary and secondary schools will be equipped with biometric access control card readers by August 2022 to reduce teacher absenteeism. The latter is one of the reasons for the decline in student performance in recent years, according to the DRC government.
« In 2012, according to the UNDP, in Benin, with the extended digitalisation of services, civil servants no longer go away to follow their financial files«
The finding in the education sector extends to other administrations. In 2012, two years after the World Bank’s findings in Benin, a survey commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) noted that « absenteeism and tardiness wreak havoc on the administration and is costly to the state ». The UNDP estimated this ‘damage’ at around 70 billion CFAF per year. As a result, the government, through the Ministry of Administrative and Institutional Reform, opted for a biometric solution to combat the phenomenon. Ten years later, digitization has been extended to a wider range of services. This has prevented civil servants from using the tracking of their financial records to justify their absences.
The Gambian government has also embarked on biometric monitoring of civil servants’ attendance. A memo from the Ministry of Public Service, Administrative Reforms, Policy Coordination and Delivery instructs that « instead of identity cards, an electronic biometric attendance system should be introduced, the data of which should be printed weekly and transmitted monthly to the Secretary General and Head of the Public Service ». That directive should be implemented by all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by the end of February 2023. This will reduce the huge wage bill that these ghost workers impose on the government.
« In Cameroon, the physical counting of staff revealed 5,000 fictitious civil servants per month for a saving of 2.74 billion FCFA »
As in Cameroon. The physical count of state employees (PCSE) launched by the Ministry of Finance in 2018 has exposed around 5,000 fictitious civil servants every month, saving FCFA 2.74 billion (some US$4.4 million). In addition, FCFA 18.6 billion (about US$ 30 million) was recovered from the bank accounts of deceased civil servants in May 2022, according to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance revealed that between January 2019 and February 2022, the Treasury made budget savings of FCFA 140.3 billion (about US$228 million), while the government announced 5,181 cases of suspensions for misconduct.
As a result, in 2019, the Minister of the Civil Service and Administrative Reform, Joseph LE, decided to install a biometric terminal that would record all entries and exits of his ministry’s staff. While waiting for the measure to be extended to other public administrations, as the minister announced at the time, « it is planned that unannounced checks will be carried out in order to place absentees in an irregular absence situation, suspend their pay and bring them before the Permanent Disciplinary Council ».
« In Africa, biometrics is hampered by poor access to electricity, the lack of a legislative and regulatory framework and uncertainties about data security”
However, obstacles stand in the way of biometric clocking of civil servants in Africa. First and foremost, according to Laurice Serge Eteki Eloundou, an expert in governance and economic development, « the poor access to electricity of a large part of the population in Africa. This is a barrier to better use of biometric systems in public services. He is also an expert in innovation and describes « an increasingly glaring energy deficit, even in some major African capitals ». But, he points out, « the AfDB figures (rate of access to electricity on the continent from 42% in 2015 to 54% in 2019) give cause for optimism for the biometric clocking of civil servants in rural areas where absenteeism is endemic.
The solution also lies in « renewable energies, as Africa has a potential that only needs to be exploited ».
Secondly, Laurice Serge Eteki Eloundou points out, « the legislative and regulatory framework in several countries is not adapted to biometric registration because of their complexity. In some African countries, these laws do not exist. Furthermore, strong privacy and data security protection is a double challenge for the widespread adoption of biometrics in Africa and the exploitation of biometrics for the greatest social benefit. « Only 24 African countries have adopted laws and regulations to protect personal data. This is a blocking factor for the adoption of biometrics in Africa, » concludes the innovation expert.
By Bernard Bangda
