Controller freezes salaries of some public sector workers

The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), has suspended September salaries of some public sector employees whose names are a mis-match on the government payroll system.

Some of the affected workers also have invalid bank account numbers on the system.

Though not explicitly stated in the notice, some economic watchers suspect that the action is being taken as part of ongoing discussions to secure $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

When Ghana went to the IMF in 2015, the Fund announced in one of its releases that Ghana government removed 50,000 ‘ghost names’ from its payroll in response to correcting persistent weaknesses in fiscal management.

Names mis-match

A notice on the suspension of September salaries signed by Mrs Angela Peasah, Head of Payroll Processing Directorate on behalf of the Controller and Accountant General explained that the anomaly was discovered following quality assurance and other validation processes.

The notice asked employees whose bank names are a mis-match compared to what is on the payroll to report to the Payroll Coordination Unit of the Controller and Accountant General at block “A” room 32.

The affected employees are to submit an appointment letter, current posting, national identification card (Ghana card), pay slips for the last three months, a voided cheque leaflet of their bank account with a cover letter from the Ministry, Department, and Agency (MDA) where they work confirming that the employee is at post.

Invalid bank account

For employees with invalid bank accounts, affected persons are to submit their correct bank account numbers to Personnel Processing Sections (PPS) for updates.

The notice dated October 3, 2022 asked affected persons to treat the directive as urgent.

148,000 missing from biometric identification database

Though the notice did not mention the number of public sector employees affected, it will be recalled that Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently announced that out of the 602,000 government workers on the payroll, 148,000 have been found to have identifications which do not match any biometric identification at the National Identification Authority (NIA) database.

This was the outcome of a biometric audit by the Controller and Accountant General Department.

533 workers with multiple identities on govt payroll

Speaking at the 2022 Internal Audit Agency Conference, Dr. Bawumia said the Controller General’s biometric audit also found 533 workers on government payroll with multiple identities.
NSS deletes 14,000 ghost names and saved GH₵112m

A recent biometric audit by the National Service Scheme (NSS) found about 14,000 ghost names on its payroll, which saved the scene about GH₵112 million annually.