The Minister of Finance has disclosed that an ongoing audit by the Audit Service has led to the discovery of more than 53,000 workers who are designated, resigned or retired on the government’s payroll.

According to Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the audit also found over 14,000 workers whose credentials could not be verified.

Dr Forson, who made these remarks during his presentation of the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review on July 24, 2025, indicated that a recovery of unearned salary from these persons is estimated to be over GH¢150 million.

“Mr. Speaker, the Ghana Audit Service has completed 91% of the payroll audit. 173. So far, the Audit Service has not been able to identify and verify over 14,000 workers. Again, they have identified 53,311 separated staff – staff who are either on retirement, resigned, terminated, leave without pay or deceased, and yet remain on government payroll,” he said.

He added, “The Audit Service expects to recover GH¢150.4 million of unearned salaries from the separated staff over the 2023 and 2024 period.”

The minister indicated that to eliminate these “ghost names” from the payroll, the government would start sanctioning all the people who are responsible for validating their salaries.

BAI/AE

Meanwhile, you can also watch videos from the NPP's National Delegates Conference below:
‎




Watch the latest episode of Health Focus below: