THE ongoing government digital service outage is frustrating civil servants, with some now unable to access loans from financial institutions.
This is because lenders cannot access critical government information needed before processing their applications.
Some government employees who had applied for loans said they had expected to receive the funds last week, only to be informed by financial institutions that their applications could not be processed because they were unable to access the government’s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).
The affected civil servants said they began experiencing the challenge last Tuesday, leaving those who had planned to use the loans waiting for the funds.
Impeccable sources within some financial institutions confirmed that while they had been able to receive September instalments from civil servants who already had loans, they were experiencing difficulties processing new loan applications.
The sources said lenders relied on information accessed through the government system to assess loan applicants before approving new loans for the civil servants. They said the process included checking an applicant’s credit score and determining whether their existing financial obligations were within the 33% threshold allowed for deductions from their salaries.
“Some civil servants had applied for loans because they said their salaries had improved and pushed up the 33% threshold. However, we cannot confirm this as we cannot see how many people or entities are owed by the loan applicant, making it challenging for us to process the application,” said one source.
The development has affected civil servants who were hoping to benefit from increased borrowing capacity following improvements in their salaries.
The affected employees said they hoped the problem would be resolved soon, particularly from today, allowing financial institutions to resume processing their applications.
The challenge comes amid an ongoing disruption of several government digital services, which the ministry of information, communication and technology (ICT) has acknowledged.
In a recent media release, the ministry said several government web-based services and digital platforms were experiencing outages, causing inconvenience and disruption to citizens, businesses and other users who rely on the services.
The IFMIS is among the government digital platforms listed as being affected by the disruptions.
Other affected platforms include the government website, the e-Visa application, the Deeds Registration and Information Management System, the ministry of public service’s Performance Management System (PMS) and selected services available through the Government in Your Hand application.
The ministry of ICT had assured the nation that a team of technical experts had been engaged to investigate the outages and establish the circumstances surrounding the disruptions.
The team is also reportedly assessing the affected systems and will provide technical findings and recommendations to guide the restoration of services and any necessary corrective measures.
The ministry said it remained focused on restoring the affected services and ensuring that government digital platforms remained reliable, secure and accessible to the public.
