Some 'ghosts' in public service have Ghana Cards – Bright Simons

Vice president of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has refuted the assertion by some proponents of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, including Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, the introduction of Ghana’s National Identification Card, the Ghana Card, has help curded the menace of ‘ghost names’ in the public service of Ghana.

According to Bright Simons, a study conducted by IMANI has shown that the introduction of the Ghana Card into the public service has not done much to remove the names of persons who find themselves on the payroll even though they do no work for the government.

In a series of posts shared on Sunday, November 19, 2023, Simons added that some of the “ghosts” in the public service even have Ghana Cards.

“1 year ago, Gh govt said Ghana Card has sieved out ghosts from govt payroll. Months after, this was updated to: 'Ghana Card WILL get rid of the ghosts'.

“Well, IMANI dug into this. Ghana Card can't do "foko", b'cos insiders enrol the "ghosts", some of whom also have Ghana Cards,” he wrote.

The IMANI vice president said that the government has failed to analyse the menace of ghost names properly which is why all of its solutions to the problem are not working.

“Misdiagnose a problem & you will churn out wrong solutions. The assumption was that the "ghosts" simply didn't exist hence the magic of biometrics. So, in 2009, GHIPPS pushed eZwich. 10yrs on, eZwich hadn't work. Ghana Card is just the latest procurement-driven silver bullet,” he said.

He added that the Ghana Card is being pushed as a solution to Ghana’s problem by persons who are only interested in enriching themselves.

“The main goal of Ghana Card is to make money. So, it is being pushed as a magic wand for all problems when it is not. The way to solve ghost names is to revamp personnel appraisal systems & tighten HR within govt depts. No proper system can be tricked to pay folks 4 no work.”

The post also had screenshots of reports of Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia touting the effectiveness of the Ghana Card which he said has helped remove tens of thousands of ghost names from Ghana’s public service.

Read his posts below:

1 year ago, Gh govt said Ghana Card has sieved out ghosts from govt payroll. Months after, this was updated to: "Ghana Card WILL get rid of the ghosts". Well, IMANI dug into this. Ghana Card can't do "foko", bcos insiders enroll the "ghosts", some of whom also have Ghana Cards. pic.twitter.com/4uQ6HExS8R

— Bright Simons (@BBSimons) November 19, 2023