How EFSTH Paid Clerks and Typists to “Stay Loyal to Public Service” They Never Practised
The Non-Private-Practice (NPP) Allowance was designed with noble intent:
To ensure that government-employed doctors focus on saving lives in public hospitals rather than chasing private-clinic cash.
However, at Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), auditors discovered that this safeguard had become another means of siphoning funds.
The April 2024 NAO Management Letter calls it plainly:
“Non-Private-Practice (NPP) Allowance amounting to GMD 830 000 was paid to staff not entitled to the benefit.”
NAO EFSTH Report 2024, Finding 3.2
Who Got Paid as Doctors
The audit uncovered dozens of non-medical workers pocketing monthly NPP payments between 2022 and 2023, individuals who had never held a medical license or worked in any clinical ward.
Among those listed in the auditors’ table were:
• Kaddy Faal — Senior Accounts Clerk — D 60 000
• Alhagie Camara — Messenger — D 45 000
• Isatou Darboe — Secretary — D 40 000
• Nyima Jatta — Senior Procurement Officer — D 55 000
• Ebrima Cham — Store Clerk — D 50 000
(exact totals ≈ D 830 000 — Audit Finding 3.2, pp. 12–13)
None of them appear in the hospital’s personnel file as consultants, registrars, or medical officers, the only categories legally entitled to NPP allowance.
How the Fraud Worked
- CMD Dr MHD Ammar Al Jafari approved the NPP payment sheets prepared by HR without verifying staff categories.
- Finance Director Lamin Ceesay authorised the disbursements, ignoring the absence of eligibility lists from the Ministry of Health.
- Non-clinical staff collected the cash monthly, some even while already receiving other benefits such as Call Allowance and Responsibility Allowance.
The auditors found no policy memo, no Board resolution, and no confirmation that the Ministry of Health sanctioned the payments.
“The payments were effected without any evidence of approval or verification of entitlement.” Finding 3.2
What the Law Says
Under the Public Finance Act 2014, it is unlawful for an accounting officer to authorise expenditure without documentary authority.
Under the Public Service Regulations, only medical officers participating in the non-private-practice scheme are eligible for this allowance.
Under Section 222 of the 1997 Constitution, public officials are required to ensure transparency and fairness in the allocation of resources.
All three were ignored.
The Cost of False Loyalty
That D 830 000 could have:
• hired 12 nurses for a year
• paid for 200 cesarean deliveries
• restocked the hospital blood bank
Instead, it was wasted paying office workers to “stay loyal” to public practices they never performed.
Management Silence
When questioned, the administration offered a familiar refrain: that the payments were “motivational.”
Auditors called it unacceptable and fraudulent.
The Finance Director claimed ignorance of the policy, despite having co-signed the vouchers.
The CMD said it was “routine.”
No one has been charged.
The People’s Questions for FPAC & the Ministry of Health
- Will the government recover the D 830 000 paid to unqualified staff?
- Why did the CMD and Finance Director authorise payments outside their legal remit?
- When will Parliament debate the NAO’s EFSTH report submitted in April 2024?
The People’s Verdict
When typists become doctors on paper and drivers earn surgical pay, the sickness is not in the wards, it’s in the system.
The NPP fraud is not just theft; it’s a betrayal of every real doctor who stayed and every patient who paid.
Until recovery and prosecution follow, EFSTH will remain a monument to misplaced trust, where fake doctors got rich and real patients got poor.
By Jallow Modou, Washington D.C.
Financial Analyst | Making the Audit Speak for the People.
