Government Payroll Audit Phase 2

The OSP and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) jointly commenced corruption risk assessment and investigation into suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in respect of Government Payroll Administration. The assessment and investigation are especially aimed at isolating and removing the names of non-existent, ineligible, and undeserving persons from government payroll, recovering wrongful payments and unearned salaries, prosecuting persons suspected to be culpable for any offences, and the institution and implementation of internal controls in respect of payroll processing and payment of salaries.

To facilitate the roll-out of the investigation and assessment throughout the country, a pilot exercise was carried out in the Northern Region (covering educational institutions under Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital) by a joint team, comprising investigators, tracers, and assessors from the OSP and selected staff of the Payroll Processing Directorate of CAGD between December 2023 and April 2024. On 20 May 2024, the OSP and the CAGD published an investigation report on the pilot exercise.

The exercise resulted in the blockade in January 2024 of a total amount of Two Million Eight Hundred and Fifty-Four Thousand One Hundred and Forty-Four cedis Eighty pesewas (GHC2,854,144.80), which was traced as representing unearned monthly salaries being paid to persons who are deceased persons, retired, vacated their posts, flagged as missing staff, or whose whereabouts are unknown (colloquially referred to as “Ghost Names”).
 
The blockade of the amount of Two Million Eight Hundred and Fifty-Four Thousand One Hundred and Forty-Four cedis Eighty pesewas (GHC2,854,144.80) and the removal from Government Payroll of the corresponding deceased, retired,  post vacators, the missing, and those whose whereabouts are unknown has saved the Republic an amount of Thirty-Four Million Two Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-Seven Cedis Six Pesewas (GHC34,249,737.6) per annum since 2024 amounting to One Hundred and Two Million Seven Hundred and Forty-Nine Thousand Two Hundred and Twelve Cedis Eight Pesewas (GHC102,749,212.8) as at 31 August 2026 in addition to future periodic upward pay adjustments for every year that the unearned-salaries-amount would have remained undetected but for the joint investigation and assessment by the OSP and CAGD.
 
The OSP is taking steps to recover unearned salaries paid in respect of deceased, untraceable, and retired persons and persons who have vacated their posts. Further, the OSP and CAGD are engaged in the process of directing internal control mechanisms in respect of payroll processing to substantially reduce the incidence of the processing and payment of unearned salaries. The OSP and CAGD would proceed by extending the investigation to the remaining fifteen regions of the Republic under Phase I of the exercise.
 
Further, the Office is pursuing the prosecution of persons suspected to be culpable for corruption and corruption-related offences in this regard.