The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says it has taken cognisance of the various successes chalked up by the government through past and ongoing policy interventions aimed at ridding the payroll of ‘ghost’ names.
It observed that the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Payroll was “doing a fantastic job by suspending, validating and possibly restoring names of employees with zero accounts, introducing payroll database and payroll data” aimed at flushing out ‘ghost names from the payroll.
The institute, however, added that this was not the first time a comprehensive exercise of this nature aimed at ridding the payroll of ‘ghost’ names was being implemented hence the need to temporarily outsource the management of the payroll to a private institutions to ensure that “all the cleaning exercises and the reforms currently taking place gain root and the integrity and robustness of the system is firmly established.”
IFS Executive Director, Prof. Newman Kusi said the problem with the public sector payroll management was both systematic and human.
While the system issues were being addressed through the implementation of various initiatives such as the Ghana Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS), the new Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS), the new payroll system and the electronic salary payment voucher (E-SPV), the human element still remained.
“The human problems have to do mainly with officials in the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD, the institution charged with the management of the payroll,” the letter said.
This, it said informed the decision to call on government to outsource the management of the payment to a private company “for a short period of time” to help restore integrity in the process.
The existence of ‘ghosts,’ which refers to names of deceased, retired, resigned and/or non-working people, in the payroll has been an albatross around the neck of the government.
The problem has persisted after series of exercises aimed at cleaning the payroll. Currently, it is estimated that about GH₵100 million is expended on such people, who do not contribute in any way to the productivity of the country.
Source: Graphic