Auditor General:26,920 Ghana Education Service Employees Unaccounted for on Government Payroll

26,920 staff of Ghana Education Service are unaccounted for Government Employees according to the Auditor Generals Department. The Auditor General in a letter to the Ghana Education Service has indicated that there are 26,920 persons on the payroll of the Ghana Education Service who it described as uncounted. The letter dated 22nd February contained irregularities from 2018. Below is the full content of the letter signed by Goerge Swanzy Winful, the Deputy Director General on behalf of the Director General

Auditor General’s Letter Content:

We submit here below our observation during the Nation-wide payroll exercise in 2018 for your response before 29 March 2019.

Unaccounted for Government Employees

Our review of the data on the payroll system administered by the Controller and Accountant General showed that 514,815 active government employees received monthly salaries for the period January 2015 to June 2018.

To confirm the existence of these employees, we carried out a nation-wide payroll exercise between July 2018 and January 2019 the outcome of which revealed that 315,010 employees out of a total number of 341,930 from your Ministry turned up for the exercise leaving 26,920 persons unaccounted for.

To enable us confirm the existence of 26,920 employees who were not present during our enumeration exercise, we would like you to complete the enclosed electronic template providing the status of each person as at June 2018.

Grade Mismatch

Salaries of employees are determined based on their respective grades per their appointment or promotion letters and consistent with the approved government salary structure.

To confirm whether salaries enjoyed by your employees were commensurate with their current positions or grade and in accordance with the approved salary structure, we requested for their promotion or appointment letters during the enumeration exercise.

Out of the total number of 315,010 employees enumerated we noted mismatch in the grading of 1,019 employees when we compared their appointment/promotion letter to the level on which they have been placed on the salary structure of their respective institution. Employees numbering 6,727 also failed to present for our inspection of the appointment/ promotion letters to enable us confirm its consistency with their payroll records. Details of the affected employees in

Appendices B1 and B2 are summarized below.

To confirm our observation on the grade mismatch, please review the attached Appendix B with any justification where possible for our consideration. In respect 2 of those who could not present their promotion/upgrading/ appointment letters, we would like you to provide us with evidence of their current position to enable us match it against their earnings as at June 2018.

Confirmation of Discontinued Staff

All government employees who are classified as Discontinued by Heads of Management Units are to be blocked by CAGD to prevent them from receiving unearned salaries.

Our review of the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher (ESPV) disclosed that, even though your Ministry declared 3,209 employees as discontinued, they remained on the payroll as active employees and received unearned salaries. Out of this total number, 1,101 of them turned up for the enumeration exercise whilst 2,108 were not present for the enumeration.

To re-confirm the status of these employees, you are required to complete the enclosed electronic template (Appendix D). In cases where an employee was declared discontinued and later restored, you are required to provide us with supporting documentation properly labeled for ease of reference.

Effective Dates of Appointments and Promotions

Regulation 293 of the Financial Administration Regulations 2004 stipulates that every head of department shall keep records of all personal emolument of staff employed in the department, in a form among others to ensure that overpayments are not made and the rates authorized for payment are not exceeded.

To confirm the eligibility of employees on the payroll, we examined their personal particulars including their appointment/promotion letters and compared with the effective dates as captured by various PPS on the Payroll system.

Our examination revealed significant discrepancies regarding the effective date of promotion/appointment when we compared their appointment/promotion letters to the effective dates as captured by PPS for payment arrears. We further observed that the effective dates of 3,134 employees were back dated. See Appendix H.

We attributed these discrepancies to a large extent, by the suspected connivance

of some PPS coordinators and the beneficiaries. This phenomenon resulted in the affected employees receiving wrongful salaries before the effective dates of appointment/promotion letters.

We recommend that your Ministry together with CAGD should investigate all such wrongful payments for recovery into the Consolidated Fund. We also urge CAGD to correct the affected employee’s data on the payroll to suit the effective date as shown on their promotion/appointment letters. Furthermore, we urge heads of MDAs to exercise strong oversight on PPS coordinators within organizations to minimize a recurrence.

Overaged Employees on Active Payroll

FAR 302 states that the appointment of a public officer is terminated by reason of retirement by reaching age limit, unless the effective date is otherwise specified under any other enactment, the effective date for stoppage of salary shall be the date specified on relevant documents.

To confirm the date of birth of government employees, we examined the SSNIT records of your employees and noted that the ages of 1,611 employees were above the compulsory retirement age of 60. We further noted that 68 employees from the payroll date of birth were above 60, these individuals were still on the active payroll and receiving monthly salaries. Please complete the enclosed template

(Appendix I) and confirm their employment status. Where any one of them is

engaged on contract, provide evidence of the contract. The enclosed template

provides the details of employees attached.

GEORGE SWANZY WINFUL

DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL /CGAD ERAL

Cc: The Controller & Accountant-General

The Auditor