The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has revealed that through a payroll audit conducted by the Ministry of Finance, under the impressive leadership of Ken Ofori-Atta, in the last two months, some 26,589 workers’ salaries have been suspended from the April 2017 payroll.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “These "workers" have not come forward to be biometrically verified by SSNIT, despite numerous calls by the Controller and Accountant General to do so. The idea of biometric verification is essentially to isolate ghost names from the payroll.”
The cost of maintaining these 26,589 names on government payroll, the President stated, is GH¢36,166,203 per month, implying that “government stands to save the country over GH¢433 million on this year’s budget alone by this exercise.”
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Monday, 1st May, 2017, when he delivered his May Day address to workers, at the Independence Square, in Accra.
In addition to the biometric verification of workers, President Akufo-Addo reiterated that other efforts aimed at cleaning the payroll are being undertaken by government.
These include a new payment system that will integrate the GHIPSS payment platform for salaries to be paid directly to workers without any manual intervention, as has always been the case. This, he added, will be implemented on a test basis this month and envisaged to cover finally all workers in June 2017.
“SSNIT has also been asked to create a separate database for the Controller, by biometrically registering close to two hundred thousand CAP30 workers. Government payroll will now have a direct interface with this and the existing database, thus reducing payroll fraud to the barest minimum. This will provide a complete end-to-end visibility of the entire payroll system, while having a seamless integration between payroll cost and the government’s general ledger,” the President said.
He stressed that “if we are to pay workers well, we must do at least two things: get rid of ghost ones and enhance the efficiency of genuine ones.”
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Can the government be taking to court for mistakenly blocking one salary earned legally while the biometric had been done long time ago?
IT IS AMAZING HOW THE NPP WANTS TO TAKE CREDIT FOR EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING. THIS IS THE THRUTH: EVERY PUBLIC SERVANT KNOWS THAT SSNIT, SOMETIME AGO EVEN BEFORE THIS GOVERNMENT WAS VOTED INTO OFFICE, ANNOUNCED IN THE NEWSPAPERS FOR ALL PUBLIC SERVANTS TO UNDERGO A SSNIT BIOMETRIC REGISTRATION. SOME PEOPLE DID REGISTER, OTHERS FAILED TO. MANY OF THOSE WHO COULD NOT, HAVE NOT BEEN PAID THEIR APRIL SALARIES. SO WHO IS THE GHOST? IS IT THE EMPLOYEE WHO HAS WORKED FOR THE EMPLOYER FOR A WHOLE MONTH AND IS YET TO RECEIVE PAY OR THERE IS INDEED A GHOST SOMEWHERE!!! THE EARLIER THE NPP BEGINS TO DELIVER ITSELF FROM THE DELUSION OF SAVING SOME 433MILLION GHANA CEDIS IN THE 2017 BUDGET, THE BETTER FOR THEM. OR BETTER STILL, THEY ARE VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE TRUTH BUT HAVE DECIDED TO THROUGH DUST INTO OUR EYES. WERE THEY NOT THE SAME PEOPLE ASKING THE AFFECTED PERSONS TO UNDERGO THE BIOMETRIC SSNIT REGISTRATION SO THEY WOULD BE PAID? WHERE FROM THIS INSINCERITY AT ALL – THEY WILL COUGH EVERY OUTSTANDING PENNY OUT SOON, THEN THE WHOLE OF GHANA WILL KNOW HOW MUCH SAVINGS THEY HAVE MADE AND FROM WHICH GHOSTS. THIS IS THE TRUTH.
Good work by NPP.
So the question is how many times did Government call for the registration. If you have been asked to register and you fail to do so you have to bear the consequences. It's about time we all take things seriously if we want Ghana to work again. So register and be paid. If salaries are withheld, maybe people will sit up. And ii isn't possible that all the names on the list aren't registered, some are actually ghost names ... so pls allow govt to do its job and stop the unnecessary criticism.
WE NEED TO BE TRUTHFUL TO OURSELVES. GOVERNMENT HAS NOT SAVED ANY MONEY PLEASE. GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO WITHHOLD THE SALARIES OF THE AFFECTED "GOST NAMES" AND HAS DIRECTED THAT THEY SHOULD BE BIOMETRICALLY REGISTERED AND VERIFIED IF INDEED THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS AND DULY EMPLOYED BY THE GOVERNMENT. MOST OF THE AFFECTED PERSONS ARE WITHIN THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE/NAGRAT. THEREFORE THE DECISION OF NAGRAT TO WELCOME THE DECISION OF GOVERNMENT TO EXTEND THE BIOMETRIC REGISTRATION FOR ADDITIONAL THREE DAYS, HOPING THAT WITHIN THE EXTENDED PERIOD, THEY COULD ENCOURAGE ALL THEIR UNREGISTERED MEMBERS TO REGISTER. SHOULD EVEN HALF OF THE SUPPOSED 26,000 GOST NAMES BE BIOMETRICALLY REGISTERED, GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE TO PAY BACK THE WITHELD APRIL SALARY OF THE AFFECTED EMPLOYEES...HENCE WHERE IS THE CLAIM OF SAVINGS??????
IS MINORITY GOING TO PETITION CHRAJ FOR THE SAVINGS?, NATION WRECKERS LIKE NDC WILL NEVER SEE ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS.MR PRESIDENT ARE SAYING SO FAR NO BODY HAS COME UP TO BE VERIFIED?, THEN BEGIN TO ARREST ALL HEADS OF THOSE INSTITUTIONS THOSE NAMES BELONG FOR EXPLANATION AS TO HOW THOSE NAMES GOT INTO THE PAYROLL, HEADS NEED TO ROLL
A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THIS WILL MINIMISE THE LEAKAGE IN THE ECONOMY.
All year round NDC are the bad nuts. Will the government say those ghost names include humans beings called NPP & NDC Ghanaians. Politicians should be mindful the way they behave because the system is full of corrupt folks not all.
Who pocketed the the salaries of the "ghosts"? Shouldn't the culprits be identified and duly prosecuted?
I am 41 and yet to see one single person who is honest in Ghana. They are crooks and cheats. They carry these negative habits with them even in their matrimonial homes. I am happy for this new system. Thank you Mr. President