Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that the government is on track to recover at least GH¢150.4 million in unearned salaries following the discovery of thousands of ghost names on the public payroll.
Presenting the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review to Parliament on Thursday, July 24, Dr. Forson revealed that a payroll audit conducted in collaboration with the Ghana Audit Service uncovered significant irregularities.
He noted that the Audit Service has not been able to identify or verify more than 14,000 workers
The audit also revealed more than 53,000 “separated staff”—workers who are retired, reassigned, terminated, on leave without pay, or deceased, yet remain on the government payroll.
“As part of the fiscal consolidation strategy, we have taken measures to sanitize public sector payroll and take off ghost names. Subsequently, we engaged the Ghana Audit Service to undertake a nationwide payroll…..
“The audit service has completed 91% of the payroll audit. So far, the audit service has not been able to identify or verify over 1400 workers. They have also identified 53,311 separated staff. Separated staff are either on retirement, reassigned, terminated or on leave without pay or deceased yet remain on government payroll.”
He added that the government will enforce monthly payroll validation going forward, and will apply sanctions against individuals who knowingly validate ghost names for payment.
“The Audit Service expect to cover a minimum of 150.4 million cedis unearned salary from the separated staff over the period of 2023 and 2024 alone. Going forward, we’ll enforce the monthly payroll validation process and sanction all those who validates ghosts for payment of salary”
Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament staged a walkout moments before the Finance Minister’s presentation, protesting what they described as government inaction over violence during the recent Ablekuma North by-election.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
