11 Apr 2013

American Samoa Government unsure about its size

3:08 pm on 11 April 2013

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has revealed that no one seems to know the true number of employees of the American Samoa Government.

He told a cabinet meeting he has still not been given an exact figure for the numbers in the ASG workforce.

Lolo, who took office in January, says a Treasury report puts the figure at between 6,000-7,000, Human Resources puts it at almost 5,000, and the Budget Office is unsure.

The governor says it's important that department heads sit down with the Department of Human Resources and figure out how many people are employed in each department and agency.

"We have heard that term ghost employees, what I am trying to say we need to spend more time looking into your personnel files because it takes up 90 percent of our budget."

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says directors should know the number of employees for their departments or else they may be paying for people who aren't working in their department.