The Auditor-General has disclosed that a total of GH¢57.2 million in unearned salaries has been recovered from public sector workers who remained on the government payroll despite being absent from duty or failing mandatory validation checks. Official records indicate that the recoveries, made between 2023 and April this year, were lodged in a special account with commercial banks before being transferred to the Consolidated Fund.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu said the figures underscore the government’s determination to eliminate ghost names from the payroll system. “Auditors will fully enforce validation checks and surcharge anyone found to have received unearned salaries. We are committed to eradicating ghost names once and for all,” he stressed.
According to the Department’s official schedule, GH¢29.5 million was recovered between 2023 and 2024 from individuals who had either abandoned their posts or failed validation. In 2025, intensified audit exercises yielded an additional GH¢20.4 million in recoveries. Then between January and April 2026, an additional GH¢7.3 million has been recovered, bringing the cumulative amount since inception to GH¢57.2 million.
All the monies were initially paid into a special recoveries account. The Auditor-General confirmed that after final reconciliations, each tranche was transferred to the Consolidated Fund in line with financial regulations. Mr Asiedu warned that managers of public institutions and supervisors who certified payrolls without verifying the presence of their staff would not be spared.
“Supervisors who authorize such payments will also be held accountable. If a supervisor certifies a payroll knowing that an employee is not at post, they will be personally surcharged,” Mr. Asiedu warned. The directive is expected to trigger reforms across ministries, departments, and agencies where weak oversight has historically enabled salary padding and ghost names to thrive.
He explained that during routine payroll audits, his team cross-checks validation data, attendance records, and posting letters. Where an individual is found to have received payment without being at post or fails mandatory biometric validation, a surcharge is issued. The affected person is then required to refund the unearned amount into the Special Recoveries Account.
If they fail to do so, the Auditor-General’s Department can issue a certificate of indebtedness, enabling the amount to be deducted from future payments due to the individual or recovered through the courts. Mr Asiedu explained that the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament had welcomed the recoveries, which it described as a major blow against payroll fraud.
He told the Daily Graphic that heads of institutions who aided and abetted such practices should face not only surcharges, but also disciplinary action. He said, although such recoveries were important, soon there would be full publication of the names of all surcharged individuals and their supervisors to serve as a deterrent.
The Auditor-General assured the public that validation exercises were now being conducted quarterly, and that no public sector worker would be allowed to remain on the payroll without proof of being at post. “Ghost names will become a thing of the past,” he declared.
As of press time, the department was still processing appeals from some surcharged persons, but the Auditor-General stressed that recoveries would continue unabated until the payroll was fully cleansed.
The Daily Graphic understands that all amounts have been transferred from the Special Recoveries Account (Auditor General’s Special Account with Bank of Ghana and GCB Bank) into the Consolidated Fund, in accordance with the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (PFM Act 921).
Source: Kester Aburam Korankye
