Government payroll goes cashless to eliminate ghost payments – Bawumia

Public sector workers will in no time be paid via a cashless mode to eliminate the challenge of ghost names in its payroll, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated.

Bawumia noted that through technology and digitization, “the problem of ghost workers will be solved once and for all.”

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia made the above statement during the launch of the Gh Dual Card initiative by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System Limited (GhIPSS) to encourage card transactions.

Gh Dual Card offers a two in one payment card, that has a both the e-zwich and gh-link applications.

In a keynote address, Bawumia indicated that the introduction of the biometric feature makes it easy for government to track its payment system adding that public sector workers will be required to be paid through the filter of the e-zwich card.

“This will mean that all public sector workers who do not have e-zwich card will be issued with these e-zwich cards. Even though the money is not going to be paid to the e-zwich card, the money will be paid into every workers’ bank account but the filter will be e-zwich and that will make sure that 100% that for the whole public sector payroll, we can say that there will be no ghost workers on the public sector payroll.” He emphasized.

He however, assured that workers will have no issues with the payment of their salaries but government is preventing the situation of individuals taking income from more than one institution.

“All workers will get their pay normally. It’s just the filter through the e-zwich so that we can make sure that someone is not on NaBCO and at the same time claiming salary from afforestation. We will have a full view of everybody and it will eliminate ghost workers.”



Background

e-zwich has seen a steady rise in transactions over the past years. In the first half of this year alone, over 5.5 million e-zwich transactions took place, representing an increase of over 51 per cent over the same period in 2018, which was about 3.6 million transactions. The continuous growth in e-zwich transactions suggests that there are several people who use e-zwich cards but also have their regular gh-link cards and are compelled to carry both cards at all times. But with the introduction of the new card, such people can opt for it but still enjoy the functionalities of both.

How the Gh Dual Card works

The Gh Dual Card will work based on a customer’s preference. Customers who want to withdraw money or spend off the e-zwich side of the card, will need an e-zwich only terminal or a hybrid terminal. It will also require fingerprint authentication.

Benefits of the dual card include a lower cost and affordability where customers will pay less for securing and using Gh Dual cards as compared to acquiring two individual cards.

Additionally, the combines the security features of both the e-zwich and the gh-link EMV card thereby ensuring that card transactions are protected and secured.

The Ghana Dual Card will be issued by all banks, rural and community banks as well as Savings and Loans companies.