A new report jointly released by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Controller & Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) has uncovered payroll fraud in the Northern refion.
The report found nearly three million cedis paid as salaries to persons who were deceased, retired, or no longer in their positions, also known as ‘Ghost names’ in the Northern Region alone.
The report follows a joint investigation into the government’s payroll administration, with a focus on employees in the Northern Region.
The investigation uncovered a number of unauthorised and inactive validators handling the payroll system for educational institutions under the Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
According to the report, a primary school in the Kumbungu District recorded as part of the Ghana Education Service was discovered to be fictitious.
“It was discovered that a primary school in the Kumbungu District of Ghana Education Service did not exist at all. Yet, this non-existent contrived entity was represented as staffed and the purported staff were being validated monthly and being paid salaries,” the OSP said in it’s report.
Aside from that, another GH₵2.8m was discovered as unearned monthly salaries paid to ‘Ghost Names’.
“A staggering amount of GH₵2,854,144.80 was identified as unearned monthly salaries, attributed to individuals who were deceased, retired, no longer in their positions, flagged as missing, or whose whereabouts were unknown, commonly referred to as “Ghost Names.”
“By blocking these payments and removing the corresponding individuals from the Government Payroll, the Republic saved GHC34,249,737.60 for the 2024 financial year.”
The OSP disclosed that it will collaborate with the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to conduct further investigations into the educational institutions under the Ghana Education Service in the Northern Region and the Tamale Teaching Hospital.
The move is to help prosecute those responsible for promoting the non-existent school and for validating the payroll entries of deceased, untraceable, retired, or otherwise inactive individuals.
Below is the report
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
