The Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) have declared that they have saved Ghana GH¢34,249,737.6 for the 2024 fiscal year.

After closely examining the Northern Region government payroll, which included Tamale Teaching Hospital and Ghana Education Service-accredited schools, the two organizations were able to save this sum.

The investigation was started in January 2024 when the OSP blocked a few “ghost names,” which resulted in the GH¢2,854,144.80 amount being traced.

Phase 1, Volume 1 of the OSP and CAGD’s investigative report, dated Monday, May 20, states that the OSP’s joint investigation and evaluation would have prevented the unearned salary amount from being discovered.

“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) for the 2024 financial year, and future savings of that amount (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 of Government Payroll in the Northern Region (covering educational institutions under Ghana Education Service and Tamale Teaching Hospital).”

Surprisingly, the OSP discovered that a large number of invalidators are unregistered and dormant in the payroll system for the Northern Region, which includes the Tamale Teaching Hospital and educational institutions under GES.

The OSP observed that the institutions in question were actively using the credentials of retired and deceased validators in their validation process.

“The OSP and CAGD observed that the payroll system in the Northern Region (covering educational institutions under the Ghana Education Service and the Tamale Teaching Hospital) is attended to by an alarming number of unauthorised and inactive validators. Indeed, most of the management units were found to be validating persons through the use of unauthorised and inactive validators’ credentials.

“That is to say, the credentials of deceased and retired validators were being actively used in the validation process. Then again, transferred validators were purporting to engage in validation with their inactive previous credentials. It was also observed that transferred and released staff were being validated by their previous management units, creating the clear danger of unattested active or continuous engagement by the respective institutions.”

As part of Phase 1 of the exercise, the OSP announced that they will carry out the investigation into the remaining 15 regions.

“The OSP and CAGD would proceed by extending the investigation to the remaining fifteen regions under Phase I of the exercise.”