The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, on Thursday disclosed that the Government has embarked on an effective way of dealing with the issue of “ghost names” on its payroll, using an electronic approach that entails the capturing of biometric data of employees in the payroll system to check fraud and impersonation.
According to him, the system has proven to be successful in most countries that experienced payroll fraud in the past, adding that a process of capturing finger prints of pensioners and their dependents has already begun in the regions and is expected to be completed soon.
The Minister disclosed this yesterday in Parliament when he presented the mid-year review of the Budget Statement and Economic Policy and the Supplementary Estimates, for the 2011 financial year
He attributed the increase in the public sector wage Bill in relation to GDP and other expenditures not only to wages or salary increases but also unauthorised names on government payroll popularly referred to as “ghost names”
He indicated that one major contributing factor to the failure of past initiatives to remove “ghost names” has been the lack of adequate mechanisms to effectively identify these names on the payroll and delete them as well as prevent their re-appearance, adding that this electronic approach will effectively deal with the issue.
Source: ISD (Gilbert Ankrah)
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