Ghost names on Accra Psychiatric Hospital’s payroll

The payroll of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital has been found to be fraught with ghost names.

Former employees who have either separated from the Hospital as a result of resignation, retirement, and or death are still on the payroll of the health facility.

Their number is immediately not known.

However, the 2012 audited report of the Auditor-General has revealed that the unidentified persons, popularly known as ‘ghost names’ on the health facility’s payroll during the year under review earned salaries worth GH?16,426.20.

The unearned salaries, according to the Auditor-General, is contrary to Regulation 297 of the Financial Administration Regulation (FAR), 2004, which requires the Head of Department to cause the immediate stoppage of salary to a public servant who has separated from the department as a result of resignation, retirement, death among many others.

“The payments were a loss of public funds”, the 2012 audited report of the Auditor-General in part read.

This came to the fore when the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament chaired by Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Friday, met officials of the Ministry of Health and the Accra Psychiatric Hospital to interrogate them on the query raised by the Auditor-General in his 2012 audited report.

Even though the Auditor-General had advised management of the Hospital to recover the amounts from the former employees and pay back to government chest, management has since July 2015, not recovered the amount from the separated staff.

The PAC, worried about the anomaly, enquired from the officials of the Hospital what mechanisms they have put in place to recoup the money to government chest.

Acting Director-General of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Pinamang Appau, told the Committee she only got to know that some monies have been paid to “dead people” not long ago and that her outfit has put in place measures to track the beneficiaries in order to recoup the monies and pay into government chest.

She said so far, they have not been able to get a single person and so they have resorted in locating the next of kin of the beneficiaries “all in efforts to getting the money back”.