Government issues validation guidelines for ‘suspended workers’

The Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines for the validation of suspended workers on government pay roll.

A statement issued by Mr Patrick Nomo, the Chief Director, Ministry of Finance recounted that the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, on February 10, requested the Controller and Accountant General (CAGD) to inform all public servants on the Government of Ghana mechanised payroll system, who had not registered on the new SSNIT biometric system, to do so by the end of February 2017.

It said this directive came into effect on the April 2017 payroll.

It noted that consequently, the salaries of 26,589 unregistered workers were suspended indefinitely until their SSNIT re-registration is completed.

It said subsequent to the suspension of the salaries of the unregistered workers, the following actions had been taken:

- 9,375 workers had subsequently been registered and validated onto the payroll.

- Supplementary payroll was run and payment was effected to the validated staff on May 11, amounting to some GHC 11.3 million.

The statement said about 3,000 more were currently being validated and would be paid as part of the May 2017 salaries and would consider validated arrears.

"It is the following roadmap towards cleaning the payroll was hereby communicated to all affected stakeholders, as part of a broader payroll management strategy," it said.

On staff, who had registered with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT); having valid SSNIT numbers, but have not gone through SSNIT biometric registration:

"Affected staff should visit the nearest SSNIT Branch with their pay slips and any one of the under-listed National Identification Cards to be registered:

- National Identification Authority (NIA) Card

- National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Card

- Passport

- Driver’s Licence

- Voter Identification Card

Concerning staff, who had gone through SSNIT biometric registration but were not paid, the statement said:

"Affected staff should visit the nearest SSNIT Branch with their pay slips and their Biometric Cards.

"If the staff are not able to provide their Biometric Cards, any one of the following could be accepted as proof of Biometric Registration for further validation.

- Acknowledgement Receipts issued to the members during Biometric Registration.

- Valid Social Security Number

On staff who had not registered with SSNIT, it said:

- Affected staff should visit the nearest SSNIT Branch with their employment letters, pay slips and any one of the under-listed evidences of date of birth to be registered.

- National Identification Authority (NIA) Card, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Card, Passport, Driver’s License and Birth Certificate."

The statement said SSNIT would furnish the Controller and Accountant General with the list of members, who have successfully gone through the Biometric Registration and validation process, for their salaries to be released.

It said adequate measures had been established to ensure that affected persons, who successfully submit to the above guidelines, are paid without further delays.

It said labour unions were also encouraged to join the effort to rally their affected members to achieve this objective.

It said the following timelines were hereby communicated for the benefit of affected workers:

- Affected workers to submit to SSNIT for re-enrollment by May 22 to 26.

- SSNIT to complete validation process by May 29 to June 2.

- CAGD to pay supplementary salary to validated staff by June 15.

It said government would continue to implement strategies aimed at cleaning the payroll and rationalising its payroll cost.