CLOGSAG wants to know the ‘ghosts’ from whom over GH¢1m of salaries was recovered

The Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana, (CLOGSAG), has asked Mr John Ampontuah Kumah, a Deputy Minister of Finance, to identify the “ghosts” the Ministry recovered salary payments of GH¢1,112,896.00 from.

“It is important at this time to know where the ‘ghosts’ are, if the monies had been recovered,” a statement signed by Mr Isaac Bampoe Addo, Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, has said.

It said Mr Kumah had posted on his Facebook page on September 1, 2022 that: “Kindly note that the funds paid were recovered when the attention of the Ministry was drawn to this anomaly. This is why I always insist that the Auditor’s General report must also have an update on recoveries being made.”

“The three Ghost names are personnel seconded form GRA, for whom there was some misunderstanding about, which payroll they belonged to for the period of the secondment. The amounts paid have been recovered from the GRA as indicated and the Ministry will in due time give more details.”

CLOGSAG said it found the Deputy Minister’s excuse untenable because seconded staff from the GRA were already on the GRA pay roll.

It said, therefore, there was no need to make an effort to pay them again outside the nominal Roll of Ministry of Finance, adding that there could be no misunderstanding as to, which pay roll they belonged to for the period – January 2020 to December 2021.

The statement said, “sadly enough there are more questions than answers,“ and asked, “was their secondment approved by Office of the Head of Civil Service as required by the Civil Service Act?”

“When were they employed by GRA and where did they work in GRA prior to their secondment?”

The statement said the Auditor General would not have labelled them as “ghosts” if their names were on the Ministry of Finance Pay Roll.

It said in such situations, “we ought to be frank and truthful to the Public, so that appropriate mechanisms would be put in place to stem the tide.”

“Meanwhile, as promised by the Deputy Minister, we are awaiting for ‘more details’ on the issue,” the statement said.

Source: GNA