Dead men on payroll: 4 ghosts chopped GH¢7.4m for 7 years
A new audit has uncovered a payroll scandal where 4 “ghost” workers collected a total of GH¢7.4 million in salaries over 7 years. Details on Page 3
What the report found
According to the Auditor-General’s report, the 4 names remained active on the government payroll despite not being legitimate employees. Payments were made to them consistently for 7 years before the irregularity was detected during a payroll validation exercise.
The audit flagged weak controls in the payroll system, including:
- Lack of regular validation of staff
- No deletion of separated, deceased, or non-existent employees
- Poor inter-department coordination between HR, Controller, and the Accountant General’s Department, and individual institutions
How it happened
Investigators noted that the “ghosts” were able to stay on the system because monthly payrolls were not properly cross-checked with attendance, exit records, and death registers. In some cases, bank accounts linked to the ghost names continued receiving salaries long after the supposed workers should have been removed.
This is not the first time ghost names have been found on the public payroll. Previous audits have also cited unearned salaries and payments to people who had retired, resigned, or never existed.
Government response
The Auditor-General has recommended:
- Immediate removal of all unearned names from the payroll
- Recovery of the GH¢7.4m from the responsible officers and the accounts where payments were made
- Sanctions for payroll administrators and HR heads who failed in their oversight duties
- Biometric and digital verification to prevent future occurrences
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is expected to summon heads of the affected institutions to explain how the fraud persisted for 7 years undetected.
Civil society groups are calling for criminal prosecution, arguing that payroll fraud directly drains resources meant for health, education, and infrastructure.
The case adds to the over GH¢1.24 billion in financial irregularities recorded across state bodies in the latest audit year, highlighting ongoing challenges with public financial management.
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