The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) says about 7,000 “ghost names” have been deleted from the government’s payroll system.
This follows a nationwide exercise carried out by auditors and accountants from the CAGD and the Auditor General’s Department.
The acting Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, said the exercise was fruitful and allowed all names that could not be validated to be taken off the state payroll. He made these comments during the launch of monthly training for CAGD staff in Accra.
“Today, it will be very difficult to bring ghost names on to the payroll; besides, the department does not capture names on the payroll, as this is done at the ministries, departments and agencies level through the Public Services Commission before we get new entrants on to our system,” Kwaning-Bosompem said.
Delays in effecting salary increases
Kwaning-Bosompem also addressed concerns about delays in salary increment for public servants who have been promoted.
He said the hold-up results from the CAGD having ceded its human resource data processing functions to the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The MDAs are responsible for making sure that all promoted employees’ details are captured on each body’s system so that the corresponding salary increment can be made.
“We only use whatever information [about] an employee we have received from the MDA, whether it is a promotion or a new entrant, to process the payroll,” said Kwaning-Bosompem.
“As far as this information is not in our domain, we will not be able to pay you. So, we are encouraging everybody that, immediately you are promoted, please make sure that you conclude the process from your MDA so that we will capture the data on our system and pay you accordingly,” he said.
YEA saves GHC83 million a year
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, also disclosed that 20,000 “ghost names” have been removed from the payroll of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in the past three years.
These “ghost names” were costing the taxpayer nearly GHC83 million each year, he said.
“One of the most significant things the Youth Employment Agency has done is, just by doing due diligence, to save us about GHC82.5 million a year for the last three and a half years,” the minister said.
Oppong Nkrumah was speaking at the maiden Nation-Building Updates in Accra on Monday evening.
“For all the numbers that they claimed have been on the Youth Employment Programme, by doing an audit, about 20,000 ghosts have been deleted from that roll, and that translates to about GHC82 million a year.”
E A Alanore
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