[Ghana] More than 67,000 ‘Ghost Workers’ found on payroll

Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, announced that the country’s government payroll has been inflated by 67,311 ‘ghost workers’, leading to the recovery of around GH₵150.4 million ($14,398,861) in unearned wages, News Central reports.

During a parliamentary session for the 2025 mid-year budget review, Dr. Forson disclosed that a Ghana Audit Service audit had identified two types of fraudulent entries.

“14,000 unidentified workers and 53,311 separated staff made up of people who are either on retirement, resigned, terminated, leave without pay or deceased, and yet remained on government payroll,” he said.

According to reporting from the Ghana News Agency, the minister informed Parliament that the audit is expected to be finalised by the end of next month. Updates on the findings and outcomes will be provided to the public.

To address the issue of ghost worker entries, the government reportedly intends to implement a range of measures, including “conducting regular nationwide payroll audits to clean up the government payroll and reassigning staff from overstaffed and inactive Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA) to areas with urgent staffing requirements.”

These reforms came in the wake of a February directive from President Mahama, calling for investigations into the National Service Authority’s operations under the previous administration after more than 81,000 suspected ghost names were identified on its payroll.

According to a statement from the presidency, the ghost names were discovered during a headcount intended to clear pending allowance payments at the agency, which oversees mandatory one-year employment placements for graduates.

Source: News Central

(Quotes via original reporting)

Ghana’s Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson, announced that the country’s government payroll has been inflated by 67,311 ‘ghost workers’, leading to the recovery of around GH₵150.4 million ($14,398,861) in unearned wages, News Central reports.

During a parliamentary session for the 2025 mid-year budget review, Dr. Forson disclosed that a Ghana Audit Service audit had identified two types of fraudulent entries.

“14,000 unidentified workers and 53,311 separated staff made up of people who are either on retirement, resigned, terminated, leave without pay or deceased, and yet remained on government payroll,” he said.

According to reporting from the Ghana News Agency, the minister informed Parliament that the audit is expected to be finalised by the end of next month. Updates on the findings and outcomes will be provided to the public.

To address the issue of ghost worker entries, the government reportedly intends to implement a range of measures, including “conducting regular nationwide payroll audits to clean up the government payroll and reassigning staff from overstaffed and inactive Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDA) to areas with urgent staffing requirements.”

These reforms came in the wake of a February directive from President Mahama, calling for investigations into the National Service Authority’s operations under the previous administration after more than 81,000 suspected ghost names were identified on its payroll.

According to a statement from the presidency, the ghost names were discovered during a headcount intended to clear pending allowance payments at the agency, which oversees mandatory one-year employment placements for graduates.

Source: News Central

(Quotes via original reporting)