Guinea launches biometric system to weed out ‘ghost’ public workers

Guinea has officially put into use a biometric verification system aimed at combatting the phenomenon of ‘ghost’ workers which has bedevilled the public service of many African countries.

The system known as the Unique Administrative and Payroll Management Platform (FUGAS) was launched recently during a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah, the Ministry of Labour announced.

A pilot of the system was launched last year with the Guinean government claiming it was able to save an estimated $26.9 million in payments to underserving public workers after a biometric audit. Ecofin Agency reports that of a total of 270,000 registered civil servants, less that 150,000 of them were confirmed to have effective work presence.

At the launch, Bah underlined the importance of the system, noting that it is a major step toward modernizing the country’s civil service and plugging gaps that enabled wasteful expenditure on public servants who do not effectively work to earn their pay.

The PM added that FUGAS is not just an innovation, but a tool that occupies a critical place in the country’s anti-graft efforts.

Labour and Public Service Minister Faya François Bourouno, in his speech, mentioned that the launch of the system is a major milestone in the country’s public service digitization efforts which started in 2021.

The new tool, he said, will enhance transparency, traceability, and performance of the public service payroll system in order to improve administrative management and ensure transparent recruitment, among other public service task.

Bourouno added that the launch of FUGAS is in line with the Simandou 2040 strategy whose digital technology pillar was launched recently during the 2025 Transform Africa Summit. The strategy outlines Guinea’s multisectoral development and economic growth plan to be implemented between now and 2040.

With the ‘ghost’ worker phenomenon causing huge financial losses for African countries, many of them have been looking to biometric systems to stop the rot.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  fraud prevention  |  Guinea  |  identity verification