Nairobi, 1 Sep - (ANA) - Kenya has started biometrically registering all civil servants in an attempt to remove "ghost workers" from the government's payroll. The government suspects that salaries are paid to thousands of people no longer employed in the public service. The exercise would help determine the exact number of public servants in Kenya, a government statement said. President Uhuru Kenyatta had pledged to curb corruption in government after taking office in 2013. The authorities estimate they lose at least $116,000 (£70,000) a month in payments to "ghost workers", but the exact figure is not known, correspondents say. All public servants are required to present themselves over the next two weeks at identification centres to ensure their data was captured through the biometric registration exercise, a government statement said. Anyone who failed to do so without a valid excuse would be eliminated from the payroll, it said. "This exercise will contribute significantly to the rationalization of the public service by determining the actual numbers of public servants and will also be used to cleanse the payroll at both levels of Government- hence bring a stop to the issue of 'ghost workers'," said Anne Waiguru, the cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. (ANA)

FA/ANA/1 September 2014---------