By DALCY LULUA
PUBLIC Service Minister Hon Joe Sungi has assured Parliament that the Government’s new payroll system will strengthen accountability, reduce fraud, and eliminate manual payroll processes across the public service.
Responding to questions from Oro Governor and Parliamentary Public Service Committee Chairman Hon Gary Juffa, Sungi said the Government signed a Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Dayforce two weeks ago, allowing the Department of Personnel Management (DPM) to proceed with a major upgrade of the Ascender payroll system.
Sungi said the MSA enables the immediate upgrade of the Ascender Pay system from its current legacy Version 12 platform to a fully supported and modernised Version 24 system.
He said the upgrade will improve system stability, strengthen security controls, enhance payroll processing capability, and enable modern digital HR functions aligned with international standards.
He said the system will support the planned transfer of payroll management from the Department of Finance to DPM by the end of the month.
“The new system captures almost everything that has been raised. It will no longer be manual; it will be electronic,” Sungi told Parliament.
He said payroll variations, deductions, and approvals that are currently processed manually will be automated, with secure user access, stronger governance controls, and complete audit trails that identify officers responsible for payroll transactions.
Sungi said the reforms are aimed at improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and reducing opportunities for payroll fraud, following concerns raised in a Deloitte audit that identified payroll irregularities, including ghost employees and weaknesses in internal controls.
Juffa questioned how the new system would prevent unauthorised payroll changes, who would have ultimate administrative control, the cost of the Dayforce contract, and what protections are in place if the system fails to deliver promised reforms.
Sungi said the upgraded system would provide greater transparency and accountability while modernising payroll operations for more than 140,000 public servants nationwide.