The Controller and Accountant General’s Department has intensified efforts to clean up the public payroll, launching a joint operation with the Office of the Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute individuals implicated in payroll irregularities.
This decisive action comes in response to concerns raised by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament over widespread financial irregularities highlighted in the 2024 Auditor-General’s report. The report revealed disturbing trends—ranging from payments of unearned salaries to responsibility allowances awarded to undeserving staff and the overpayment of salaries.
Addressing Parliament’s committee in Accra on Monday, August 25, Controller and Accountant General Kwasi Agyei acknowledged that, while some of the lost funds have been recovered, recovery alone is not enough. “My issue is we shouldn’t just end at recovery because we realised that we were happy when they said recovered then we tick. We should go beyond recovery,” he stated.
Agyei explained that with today’s digital systems, there is a clear audit trail for every transaction. “The audit report will definitely indicate the recipients and their staff ID. We are working in collaboration with other security agencies, OSP, because if somebody did it definitely we are using an Oracle system,” he noted.
He assured the committee that identifying those responsible is straightforward thanks to the system’s audit trail. “We can go straight into the system and know, identify who actually possessed the allowance on that particular day possessed the allowance. It is something very easy that we can do. Once we get that, we will just exercise patience and then definitely with the investigation, those culpable will be brought to book.”
With this renewed collaboration, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department aims not only to recover misappropriated funds but also to ensure that those responsible are held accountable, sending a strong signal that financial malfeasance will not be tolerated in the public sector.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com
