UG lecturers demand Auditor-General’s resignation over payroll report

Lecturers at the University of Ghana (UG) are calling for the resignation of Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu. Their demand comes after a recent audit report accused the university of overstating its staff compensation by over GH¢59 million.

At a press conference on Tuesday, May 20, Dr. Jerry Joe Harrison, Secretary of the UG Chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG-UG), strongly criticised the Auditor-General for releasing the report without first consulting the university.

“This is a serious breach of the ethical standards required for this profession. For such a basic ethical ethos to be ignored clearly smacks of incompetence and/or mischief,” Dr. Harrison said.

“We therefore call for the Auditor-General to resign honourably, or we will petition the President for his removal.”

Dr. Harrison also called for action to be taken against those involved in preparing the report, accusing them of misconduct.

“We want to state that the situation where auditing is used as a tool to disallow payments of legitimate claims from subvented institutions must stop immediately,” he added.

According to the Auditor-General’s report, UG submitted salary claims of GH¢1.09 billion between 2022 and 2024. However, only GH¢1.03 billion was approved, with GH¢59.24 million flagged as excess.

The report is part of a wider financial review of government institutions from 2020 to 2023, aimed at reducing payroll costs and disallowing unjustified payments.

But UG officials have pushed back. Acting Deputy Internal Auditor, Prof. Samuel Simpson, rejected the report’s conclusions, calling them misleading.

“The numbers alone don’t tell the full story. There are processes and engagements behind these figures that the Auditor-General’s report fails to capture,” he said.

Prof. Simpson explained that the extra payments were made from the university’s own internally generated funds (IGF), not from government allocations.

“For example, if the government pays for two staff, but the university needs five staff to maintain quality education, the university uses its own funds to pay for the additional three,” he said.

“This is not savings or fraud. The university transparently documents these expenditures to ensure quality service delivery.”

“The processes and engagements throughout this have been thorough. There is no way the university engaged in payroll fraud as alleged.”