By: Ashiadey Dotse
Minister for Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, has revealed that more than 14,000 ghost names have been discovered on the government payroll following a nationwide audit.
Presenting the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament, Dr. Forson said the Ghana Audit Service was tasked to audit the public sector payroll across all 16 regions as part of government efforts to clean up its wage bill and save public funds.
“So far, the Audit Service has completed 91% of the payroll audit. It has not been able to identify or verify over 14,000 individuals currently receiving salaries from the government,” Dr. Forson told Parliament.
He also revealed that the audit uncovered 53,311 “separated staff” who remain on payroll despite having retired, been reassigned, terminated, on leave without pay, or even deceased. The government expects to recover at least GH₵150.4 million in unearned salaries from these cases alone between 2023 and 2024.
Dr. Forson issued a stern warning to public officials who help validate payments for ghost workers, saying they will be held personally responsible for the loss of public funds.
The Minister said the government will strengthen the monthly payroll validation process and continue monitoring the system to prevent such fraud in the future.
