The Comptroller General of Liberia, Janga Kowo, has clarified that the mobile money payment service for spending entities and agencies which was introduced by government is an optional service, contrary to rumors that the service is compulsory for all public workers.
Kowo said the payment scheme is optional as civil servants will determine which portion or percentage of their salaries will be paid through mobile money.
He said the government mobile money payment scheme is being rolled out to spending entities as an innovative plan to create additional alternative to ensure the effective and efficient payment of civil servants’ salaries.
“This service is optional for employees at entities and government agencies, as they will choose the portion of their salaries that will go to the mobile money accounts,” Kowo emphasized.
Making the clarification Thursday at the Ministry of Information press conference in Monrovia, Kowo noted that the process has proven to be very creative in making sure that over 4,000 teachers and health workers are paid in a timely manner, thus avoiding the constraints of traveling long distances to cash their pay checks.
He said negotiation is underway with the Civil Service Association of Liberia to ensure that the process is well communicated to all civil servants and stakeholders, and to inform them that the process is fully voluntary.
“As part of government’s strategy to migrate from cash payment to electronic payment system, the mobile money, which is a voluntary enrolment scheme, was introduced as an alternative mode for payment service for all spending entities and agencies,” he added.
According to Kowo, the mobile money payment unit, which was set up in the Department of Fiscal Affairs at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, is an improved process aimed at benefiting workers of government.
He pointed out that it is expected that the service will reduce spending on monthly allowance for paymasters, and will also reduce remittances to transport workers who are charged with the responsibility of traveling to different counties to pay government workers.
Kowo maintained that the mobile money payment will help civil servants to have access to their money and use it to purchase things that are bought with mobile money account in the larger Liberian economy.
He emphasized that the mobile money payment scheme is part of government’s overall strategy as they move towards the future of digital work payment.
LINA
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