During the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee on Monday, September 29, 2025, it was discovered that the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) had been paying a deceased staff member for the past 26 months.

This revelation follows the recent Auditor-General’s report, which uncovered the payment of unearned salaries totalling GH¢1,449,000.

Members of the Committee expressed outrage upon learning that the hospital had validated the salary of the deceased employee over that period.

Appearing before the Committee, the hospital’s Director of Administration, Dr Emmanuel Sena Kwasi Donkor, admitted that only GH¢303,558.68—representing approximately 21 percent of the total amount—had been recovered so far.

“We were able to recover some amounts. Before we got here, we had received letters from some banks stating that they had stopped transferring the funds to the government chest,” Dr Donkor told the Committee.

He appealed for parliamentary intervention to facilitate the full recovery of the funds.

“Maybe at the end of this session we will make a prayer to this House for the House to make an order directing those banks to transfer [the money],” he said.

Dr Donkor further disclosed that the hospital had submitted the names of implicated individuals to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for investigation and recovery.

“EOCO has written back requesting the files of the people involved, and we have submitted them,” he added.

Despite these assurances, PAC members expressed dissatisfaction with the hospital’s explanation.

Ranking Member on the Committee, Samuel Atta-Mills, questioned the hospital’s validation process, citing the case of a deceased employee whose salary continued to be paid long after his death.

“Habib Napare – date of separation was 2022. This guy had died. Didn’t you go to the funeral? And you validated this dead person for 26 months? And now you are coming to tell Parliament to do what?” Atta-Mills fumed.

The Committee has since demanded greater accountability from the hospital, warning that weak validation systems contribute to financial leakages that undermine the public purse.

VKB/VPO

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