Gratuity payment to be mechanised soon - Tufuor

The proposed mechanisation of payment of gratuity through the banks in Ghana will take off by the first quarter of next year, Mr Ralph Tufuor, Controller and Accountant General, said on Wednesday.

"This will enable the department to fully computerise the processing of salaries and pensions delivery," he said. At a meeting in Accra with the media, Tufuor said the current mode of payment is wholly manual and cheques are used to pay retirees.

This system delays the release of cheques that have to be sent to the districts where the files originated and generates an influx of retirees to the capital to chase their files. There is no adequate management information system under the current system.

Tufuor said the proposed mode of payment is to decentralise the processing of gratuities through the Ministries, Departments and Agencies six months before workers go on retirement. Retirees are, therefore, expected to maintain bank accounts into which gratuities would be paid in the same way as salaries.

Tufuor said under the current system, about 400 gratuity payment vouchers are processed in a month but the figure is expected to double with the new system.

"The system will check impersonation and improve the management and accounting information system through a readily known number, amount and period of payment," he said, adding that payment of salaries and monthly pensions has already been mechanised