‘Ghosts don’t have fingerprints’ - Bawumia justifies the linkage of payrolls to Ghana Cards

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stressed the importance of implementing a biometric identification process for new public sector employees and staff.

He highlighted that this step would eradicate ghost names from the payroll, guaranteeing that only deserving individuals receive salaries myjoyonline.com reports.

"Ghosts can not have fingerprints so once you require fingerprint. The ghosts will run away because they can not produce the fingerprints. That is the problem it creates for the ghosts," he said.

In his speech at an event in Accra, Dr Bawumia clarified that this process would link their National Identification Cards to the payroll, activating their presence on the system and simplifying the salary payment process.

"New entrances are required to undergo the biometric verification identification process to activate their information on the national payroll system to facilitate the monthly payment of salaries,” he mentioned.

Dr. Bawumia emphasized the necessity of this process, stating that it is mandatory and aids the government in accurately determining the number of individuals on their payroll.

“The objective of the linkage that we have done, this historic linkage, is now to make it mandatory for the Ghana Card to be used as a means of validation of newly recruited employees and also the re-verification of existing employees and pensioners on the government of Ghana mechanise payroll system,” he added on January 10, 2024.

On the other hand, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompen from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) unveiled a strict initiative to remove public sector employees without Ghana Card numbers from the system, freezing their salaries effective from March 5, 2024.

Kwaning-Bosompen stated, "With the effect of March 24, this year, all employees without Ghana Card face the risk of being not paid on the government payroll.

RAD/OGB