President John Dramani Mahama is pushing for the decentralization of the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department as part of broader reforms to strengthen public financial management, reduce payroll fraud, and improve governance across the public sector.
Speaking at the opening of the 3rd Annual Conference of the African Association of Accountants-General in Accra, President Mahama argued that Ghana’s current centralised payroll system is inefficient and allows ghost names to persist for months without detection.
He said the time had come for government to “take bold action” on decentralisation, proposing the creation of district treasuries to manage payroll at the local level for teachers, nurses, and other frontline public workers.
“We have the issue of decentralization of Accountant-General’s departments. We have struggled with this for some years and I think that the time has come when we take bold action about decentralizing the Accountant General’s departments,” President Mahama said.
Using the example of a nurse in his hometown Bole, he highlighted how delays in communicating staff movements—such as desertion or absenteeism—lead to months of unearned salary being paid out before the system detects it.
“The Accountant General in Ghana manages the payroll of a nurse in my hometown in Bole. If she reports to work, she doesn’t report to work. If she deserts her position, her salary continues to go into her account. Because by the time somebody writes a letter to the region, the region sends it to the Ministry, the Ministry sends it to the Accountant General, some 3, 4, 5, 6 months have passed.”
He referenced an Auditor-General’s report that revealed a disturbing case in which a deceased staff member continued to receive a salary for three years.
President Mahama argued that decentralised district treasuries would allow quicker verification of staff presence, preventing ghost names and improving accountability at the local level.
The President also questioned the effectiveness of the current validation system, noting that it largely relies on automatic confirmation rather than actual physical checks in schools and health facilities.
The Annual Conference—the largest assembly of public sector finance professionals on the continent—will take place from **November 24 to 28, 2025**, at the Accra International Conference Centre.
It is being hosted in partnership with the Office of the Controller and Accountant-General (CAG) under the theme: “Africa of Tomorrow: Positioning Public Finance Management (PFM) for Economic Prosperity.”
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
