The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) recently released a report on their investigation into Government Payroll Administration. The report highlighted some alarming issues within the payroll system in the Northern Region, particularly in educational institutions under the Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
One major concern raised in the report was the presence of a significant number of unauthorized and inactive validators within the payroll system. It was discovered that the credentials of deceased, retired, and transferred validators were being actively used in the validation process, leading to potential fraudulent activities.
In addition, some schools were found to have no management units to validate staff, resulting in unreliable validation processes and difficulties in monitoring actual attendance to duty. Shockingly, a non-existent primary school in the Kumbungu District was listed as staffed, and salaries were being paid to imaginary employees associated with this fabricated entity.
The report also revealed instances where headteachers and heads of units were validating individuals whose whereabouts were unknown or who were no longer in their positions. This led to the detection of over GHC2.8 million in unearned monthly salaries paid to deceased, retired, or missing individuals, also known as “Ghost Names” on the payroll.
As a result of the joint investigation, the Republic was able to save GHC34,249,737.60 for the 2024 financial year by blocking payments to unauthorized individuals and removing them from the government payroll. Moving forward, the report emphasized the importance of ongoing monitoring and stringent measures to prevent such fraudulent activities in the future.
