An Amount of GH¢36,107,957.75 was saved to government between April and August this year, following the rollout of the payroll audit by the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commission, Mr Ben Arthur has disclosed.
The savings were made following the detection of some anomalies including ghost names, wrong placement on the salary structure, and wrong payment of allowance and different dates of birth for some employees.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Arthur said in addition to the savings made, the wage bill for the 17 institutions where the audit was undertaken had been declining from January 2023 to March 2023, whilst the percentage change in wage bill for May and June 2023 was -1.77per cent and -2.95 per cent respectively as compared to that of April.
He explained that in the months of July and August, the total wage bill recorded a decline of six per cent and one per cent respectively also resulting in a cost savings of GH¢178,359,098.51 and GH¢18,447,396.30 in July and August.
Mr Arthur said additional findings from eight other institutions so far, had shown that if the anomalies found were rectified, it would save government some GH¢252,188.38 every month.
He said the commission had to that effect, written letters to the affected institutions instructing them to take immediate steps to correct the anomalies as reported to them, during the payroll monitoring of those affected institutions.
In addition, he said all state institutions affected by the exercise, to as a matter of urgency do the needful and take immediate steps to rectify all the anomalies as indicated through the commission’s observation and findings before punitive measures are taken against them.
Mr Arthur explained that the Payroll Monitoring Exercise (PRME) was aimed at sanitising the public sector Payroll by identifying and expunging all existing fraud and anomalies on workers’ pay administration to ensure that only approved salaries and allowances were paid to deserving beneficiaries.
The exercise he said was conducted in collaboration with the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) and to ensure fairness and smooth operations, the commission also worked in partnerships with other state institutions such as National Security and the Ministry of Finance.
He said apart from identifying the discrepancy, the PRME was also to identify all lapses in the placement levels of staff in the public sector and, to find out whether the allowances currently being enjoyed by staff of various organisation had been approved by the Finance Ministry as well as identify ghost employees, if any in the public sector space.
“It involved a comprehensive approach to sanitise the payroll system and this encompassed employee compensation, compliance with employment regulations, maintenance of accurate records, and facilitation of efficient payroll operations,” he said.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
