OSP Payroll Audit Saves Ghana ₵34M in Unearned Salaries

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has saved the country some GHC34,249,737.6 in its success in unearthing 245 ghost names on the government’s payroll of workers in the Northern Region.

This amount represents the cost that would have been incurred by the state for the 2024 financial year in unearned salaries.

The investigations done together with the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) assessed 1,265 persons represented on government payroll and flagged as high-risk of suspected corruption and corruption-related activities in a piloted investigation in educational institutions under the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Northern Region and the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

Process
According to the OSP, the data of the flagged persons were transmitted to the respective banks for prompt suspension of the salaries commencing from January 2024.

“The team evaluated and analysed the nominal roll data of the target institutions in respect of the affected persons. Subsequently, the field unit of the team carried out field investigation to ascertain the status of the affected persons. The team adopted the methodology of extracting data for bank changes, terminations and reactivations from the National Payroll and the Electronic Salary Payment Vouchex (ESPV).

“The team then ascertained from the extracted data, whether payments made on the payroll system reflected the nominal rolls of the institutions; whether the account numbers of represented persons on the payroll system tallied with the data at the respective banks; and whether persons consistently flagged as missing staff were actually at post,” the report said.

The affected people were directed to submit proof of employment by providing their first letters of appointment; most recent two months pay slips; national identification cards for manual verification; and where applicable – transfer letters, study leave letters, assumption of duty letters, and copies of bank cheques.

The team then established the persons to be cleared for payment of salaries; confirmed cases of unearned salaries; suspected cases for recovery of unearned salaries; and outstanding cases.

Of the 1,265 persons flagged on the government payroll, 1,020 persons were legally earning salaries.

At the end of the probe, the OSP discovered that a total GHC2,854,144.80 represented unearned monthly salaries being paid to persons who are deceased, retired, vacated their posts, flagged as missing staff, or whose whereabouts are unknown.

The investigations which began in December 2023 and ended in April 2024 in a piloting with the Northern Region was aimed at isolating and removing the names of nonexistent, 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.