The Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) has entreated all Heads of Department to take ownership of their payrolls and take steps to validate the payroll on time every month.

It also said Heads of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies should ensure that only staffs belonging to their Management Units are paid and separate staffs deleted without delay.

The Controller and Accountant General, Madam Grace Azore made the remarks in an address read on her behalf during the training of 1,000 Heads of Departments and Management Units of the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service and other Departments of Yendi Municipal and Mion District on the Electronic Salary Payment Voucher System (E-SPV) at Yendi in the Northern Region.

Madam Grace Azore said after a long period of development and stakeholders consultations, the Department has introduced the E-SPY, which she believes will go a long way to address most of their concerns regarding the management of their payrolls.

According to her the E-SPY is an electronic version of the manual salary payment voucher that must be validated through the internet before salaries are paid.

Madam Grace Azore announced that the policy is in line with the Financial Administration Regulation, 2014 (LI 1802) Regulation 306, which requires Heads of Department or a Head of Management Units to examine and certify the personal emolument payment vouchers to ensure the accuracy of the payroll data.

She indicated that E-SPY was introduced against the backdrop of concerns regarding the high wage bill of public servants and the commitment of government to inject sanity into the payroll system to minimize the payroll irregularities and unauthorized payments.

In a welcome address read on his behalf the Yendi Municipal Chief Executive Mr. Issah Zakaria said with the introduction of the Electronic Salary Payment Vouchers System in Greater Accra, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions, the public wage bill, which stood at about 70 per cent of the national revenue with the introduction of the Single-Spine Salary Structure, had dropped to 57 per cent.

Mr Zakaria stated that as the system is rolled out in other regions the wage bill will further drop for the nation to get more revenue for development.

The Yendi Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr Sarfo Kantanka, who read the address on his behalf, advised them to ensure timely validation and Strict Scrutiny to ensure that only staffs belonging to their Management Units are validated.

The Northern Regional Director of CAGD, Mr Daniel Quayson, said the roll-out in the Region commenced on January 20, 2015, with 16 Districts having successfully gone through the roll-out of the E-SPY.

Mr Quayson said Tolon, West Mamprusi, Cerntral Gonja and Zabzugu are currently undergoing the roll-out with Mion, Saboba, Mamprugu – Moaduri, East Gonja, Chereponi and Yendi following later.

Mr Ajowak Stephen Elvis, the Yendi Municipal Finance Officer said past governments had done their best to confront this canker of ghost names.