Finance ministry joins payroll fraud fight

The Ministry of Finance has indicated that it is collaborating effectively with the Controller & Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to tackle payroll fraud.

A source at the Ministry told BUSINESS GUIDE that work was currently going on to address the bloated wage bill of government, adding that the situation whereby some sections of the public denigrated the work of the team tasked to fight the fraud was unhealthy.

In recent times, the President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has called on Finance Minister Seth Terkper to explain why he allegedly disobeyed Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the Sector Minister in relation to the management of Ghana’s payroll system.

According to the IMANI Boss, the former Minister of Finance, during his tenure, purportedly issued a directive to the CAGD to move all payroll data from IPPD2 onto the ‘Akatua’ system (IPPD 3), which was believed to have stringent controls to check perceived ‘ghost names.’

During ‘The Big Issue, programme, Mr. Cudjoe said, “I don’t have any problem with Mr Seth Tekper, but I want to understand why he took a decision that is causing us more harm now. I want to understand why the finance minister disobeyed his superior.

“Now we have a situation whereby our donor partners are withholding funds and are saying that we can’t trust your budget, we can’t trust the things you are telling us and it is affecting us. This is a serious matter and we need to understand it properly…I don’t think this matter must go away lightly.”

The Controller and Accountant General’s Department has since threatened legal action against SOFTribe for releasing the documents.

The Controller and Accountant General, Grace Francisca Adzroe, said at a news conference that the publication of these materials threaten the security of their system, their staff and Ghanaian workers, whose information had been captured in the sensitive materials.

IMANI Ghana said its research showed that the payroll system was still bloated with ‘ghost names’ despite various interventions and the CAGD blamed the situation on the ‘Akatua’ system designed by SOFTribe and the IPPD2.

The ministry’s source insisted that Minister did nothing wrong in ordering temporary suspension of the Akatua system to ensure that proper steps were taken to correct the data.

If the system is fraught with problems, it is incumbent on the ministry to ensure that CAGD puts steps in place to ensure smooth operation,” he said.

“I cannot understand why some people want to bring the Minister’s name into disrepute. In fact, he is the one who has been collaborating effectively with the CAGD to make sure the ghost names problem is solved once and for all.”